Twelve hours of love for beached whale

By Craig McKune

"I'm afraid I don't have good news."

Marine and Coastal Management scientist Mike Meyer sounded exhausted and let down over the phone on Sunday night. "I have to go now."

He'd fought for 12 hours alongside a team of NSRI volunteers, scientists, conservation officials, City of Cape Town officials and others to save the life of a stranded Cuvier's beaked whale near Muizenberg.

But despite their determined efforts, she beached herself again, just one hour after being released into calmer waters off Simon's Town.

The whale had been found at sunrise on Sunday by Johannesburg tourist Michael Thomas. He immediately contacted Meyer, who sent white shark researcher Alison Kock and conservationist Morne Hardenberg to confirm that the whale was still alive, and he followed 15 minutes later.

By mid-morning, the whale lay close to the shore, draped in wet bed sheets and blankets. NSRI volunteers ran between the waves to the whale, carrying buckets of sea water, which others poured over her to keep her cool.

Somebody set up a gazebo to keep the whale in the shade.

Sometimes her tail would quiver, and occasionally she moved her head gently, but mostly she lay still with only her blow hole opening and closing as she breathed.

Disaster manager Wilfrid Solomons-Johannes co-ordinated between Table Mountain National Park, Marine and Coastal Management, SPCA, the City of Cape Town, law enforcement, the SA Navy and the Armscor dock yard in Simon's Town. They all appeared keen to avoid the chaos that was seen when 44 false killer whales stranded themselves near Kommetjie just one month ago.

A line of chevron tape and city officials held back a swelling crowd of over 200 bystanders. Four boats, owned by the NSRI, Table Mountain National Park and local shark tour operators, waited behind the breakers on standby.

But the spring tide was low and dropping and the waves were rough, so it was unlikely the whale could be safely relaunched from the beach.

The rescue team rolled the whale onto a tarpaulin and she was lifted onto a trailer and driven along Sunrise Beach to Muizenberg, and from there along main road to Simon's Town Naval Base. The trailer, whale and rescuers were slowly lowered into the water by a ship lifter and the still-quiet animal was tied onto the side of a TMNP boat and guided into deeper waters.

When they released her she swam slowly, swimming a few hundred metres into False Bay alongside Hardenberg and two NSRI swimmers.

"She tried to turn back twice, but they turned her again with her head facing out of False Bay," said Kock who was on the boat. "She started to pick up strength and they struggled to swim with her, then she gave a big burst of energy and they lost sight of her. We're just holding thumbs now."
But it was in vain.

"It's on Glen Cairn beach; just opposite the cemetery," reported one photographer over the phone after 7pm. "It's going to be euthanised any second now."

The shot sounded muffled over the phone.

"It came in over the rocks and did quite a bit of damage to itself. It was bleeding like mad," Meyer said. "We had no other choice."

• This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times on July 27, 2009