Failed attempt of rescuing the whales in Kommetjie… your opinion?
2 06 2009
This past weekend approximately 55 whales beached on Kommetjie beach… The reason for this is unknown – generally whales beach if they get disorientated with their internal radar system, if boats or boat threats are on their travel course, if they are ill or dying, if seals (their main source of food) lead them close to shore… there are a wide range of reasons though no one can ever be sure. Whales also travel in pods making it understandable that there was a large amount of the whales beaching at one time… However, whatever the reason is – it is extremely sad that there were so many beached at Kommetjie the past weekend. Many volunteers and NSRI staff flocked to the beach to try and save them – they kept them wet and tried (in teams) to push them back into the sea… Unfortunately, most efforts seem to have been in vain as many (most) of the whales were euthanized!
Some quotes below:
- Cape Town – Authorities shot dozens of exhausted whales that beached on Kommetjie beach on Saturday amid scenes of grief and despair from volunteers who had tried to save them. Fifty-five whales washed up on the shores of Kommetjie in the early morning, prompting a massive all-day rescue effort. Hundreds of locals wearing wetsuits or shorts braved high winds and rough waves to try to push the massive mammals from knee-deep water back into the open sea. To no avail. “I feel quite sad, but it is the right thing to do,” Nan Rice, head of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, told Sapa. “They are huge animals and are stranded over a vast area. Unfortunately they (the volunteers) couldn’t do it.” Report
- Marine scientists and volunteers managed to get more than 20 of the whales back into the water despite bad weather and high waves, local media said, but some 30 remained and were having to be put down by being shot in the head. Report
- The front pages of Sunday’s newspapers bore graphic photographs of the tragic scenes that played out on Kommetjie beach all day Saturday. “And then came death,” read the caption in the Sunday Times. Report
- Cape Town – Post-mortems began on Monday on some of the 44 false killer whales which were euthanised after being stranded on a beach near Cape Town, a government official said. Report
This was a horrible thing to have happened, and whether or not it was a humane choice to kill these animals or not is up to you, let us know what you think…
Pictures:
I am at 2 minds about this… I wasnt there but i think it was a horrible horrible thing and to kill the whales seems such a waste. I know that efforts were made, but to really kill them
I was one of the volunteers trying to push these whales back into the water, it was an emotional and very very sad experience. I could not pull myself away from the one we were told to leave. We went onto another whale and with the aid of a duvet got it back into the water, if this one beached again I do not know; but I would like to think that this was one of the few who survived. If it was right to shoot them – I do not know – maybe the post mortems will tell us more!
After getting a message from Alpha Dive centre that the whales were beached, I was set to do what I could to help get the whales back into the safety of the water.
Upon arriving at the beach, the scene before me was one of utter horror. For about 2 km there were whales washed up onto the beach. Not knowing who to approach to offer my assistance, I walked to the closest group of people trying to get a whale back into the water. When I asked them what the plan of action was, their comments were,”We don’t know. We have been here struggling for 2 hours to get this whale back in the water and waiting for someone to infom us what to do and what is going to happen.” I was flabergasted that after the whales had already been stranded for nearly 5 hours , that there was yet to be a clear plan of action put into place by the authorities. I walked to the point where the authorities had congregated and asked what it is that we must to do to get the whales back into the water. Their solution was simple. Let nature take it’s course. I looked around me at the hundereds of people who were risking life and limb to get these whales back into the water. Were the authorities really expecting all of the volunteers and public to stop their rescue attempts and to walk away? Walk away from the whales that they had been trying to save for the past 5 hours in freezing cold water? To walk away and know that with every step taken it will be bringing the whales closer to near, certain death. In the end, that is exactly what happened.
I find it difficult to understand why the authorities don’t yet have a plan that can be actioned when a catastrophe of this nature takes place. We live along miles of coastline, so it would seem obvious that something like this (not always in this magitude) could happen at any given time.
Because of our lack of forsight and preparation we committed a mass murder of pilot whales. A whole pod of whales had to die, because we simply did not know what else to do.
Let us hope that we can learn from this tragedy and do better to save the animals and creatures in our oceans, which is our heritage.
Here are some more photos and my account of being there: http://www.shaunaukland.com/2009/06/fifty-pilot-whales-beach-themselves-in.html
Indeed it was pretty sad, and I think the city could have done more.
Reading these comments and looking at the pictures above from Shaun make me really cross and sad about this!
shocking, cant believe it was organised so badly and that the people incharge said to give up or let nature take its course…
S
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