Second chance for baby whale
2005-08-31 11:26
Johannesburg - A four-hour struggle to keep a baby whale alive on the Wild Coast had a happy ending when it was safely returned to the sea, Daily Dispatch Online reported on Wednesday.
It said the beached whale was discovered early on Tuesday morning on the beach at Hole-in-the-Wall, south of Coffee Bay in the Eastern Cape.
About 20 volunteers, including hotel guests, staff and members of the local community, joined forces to save the 10-metre-long whale.
It weighed a ton, residents estimated.
East London Aquarium curator Siani Tinley said this was probably a very young humpback whale.
Lindy Browning of Hole-in-the-Wall said a local resident had spotted the whale which seemed to have been trapped in the sand and went for help.
"That was just before 07:00 and 30 minutes later the real work started," Browning said.
While some of the volunteers pumped water from the sea to keep the whale wet, others dug a trench in the sand between the whale and the sea.
As the tide came in, a large tarpaulin was used to move the whale into the waves and at 11:30 the whale was finally moved into deeper water.
With a deep call the whale dived under the water and headed out to sea reported the Dispatch.
"It was so wonderful and I have never seen anything like this in my whole life. It doesn't often happen that a baby whale is washed out of the sea," Browning said.
- SAPA