Leaving Kommetjie beach at 16:00 on the 29th March, anger, frustration and misery dominated the atmosphere.
When arriving at the beach at about 13:30 there were about 7-10 volunteers around each Whale. Half of these volunteers were children who were wetting towels as well as filling their small beach buckets with water, all to “save the whales”.
The area was closed off with red and white hazard tape none of which prevent the public in lending a helping hand. Walking the entire stretch of the kalk covered beach, at the end was one Whale with three volunteers and two students from the University of Pretoria who were part of the operation.
The problem remained we were told, that despite getting the Whale back into the water it would beach again and this particular one had done it twice already. However this did not dampen nor hinder the enthusiasm and will to want to save the whale by the three volunteers hugging the whale with their icy cold hands.
In the distance there were loud bangs and while everyone was reluctant to want to admit it, they knew what was happening. The shots seemed to be getting closer and closer and there was an almost instant grouping of the three volunteers and three bystanders. The small group pushed with as much power and might as possible but the heavy whale merely moved. There were a few more shots in the distance and again the group- more united this time to achieve their goal of saving the beautiful wild and large creature, tried to move the whale.
All of a sudden the group was stopped by the research students from Pretoria as the students were given instructions not to move the whale by their authorities. The walk back to the main beach was long and silent. The journey began from the life of the whale we tried to save, then coming across two that had been shot, and then one, then another and another and another... until reaching the authorities who were doing the shooting.
The beach was filled with civilians and small children, some crying, some running and some trying to save the whales before the authorities reached them. There seemed to be much confusion among the authorities from a civilian’s perspective.
The gunman seemed to walk so easily from whale to whale shot after shot. The authorities were announcing “people go home, vacate the beach and go home”. These instructions were ignored by all and the shots kept coming.
Not one of the civilians understood why the whales were being killed. The volunteers were frantically running from one whale to the next as the previous whale they were helping was being killed. When any of the bystanders asked a question they were told “I am not answering any questions, please leave the beach”.
I believe this whole operation was very unprofessional by the authorities; it was unsafe to fire a weapon of such destruction among children and passionate volunteers. This operation could have been conducted in a better manner if they simply had police clear the entire stretch of the beach before taking any shots. This would have taken frantic panic out of the situation and would have ensured safety of the bystanders especially the potentially psychological damage for children.
When leaving the gloomy environment there were three bulldozers with “solid waste” printed on them - devastating.
Upon arriving at the beach there was one whale which had died of natural causes and it was not realised that there would be plenty more when leaving the beach of Kommetjie.
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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.