Notes On The Cape Town Beached Whales Story

So you must have heard about the whales beaching this weekend at Kommetjie and the subsequent and unfortunate euthanasing of these animals.

Now I might come across as a hard arse mofo but I actually like animals and don’t wish them any harm. After all theyre just doing what we are all doing, and that is we are all trying not to die (well except for suicidal muther fuckers but thats their problem)

So remember, go out there, have fun, but just try not to DIE. That’s what it’s all about folks.

I was particularly perturbed to hear a friend of mine went hunting and killed an Impala just for fun. Not cool dude, that’s a lot of animal for just one dude. You may only do shit like that when you’re hungry.

Ok so getting back to these whales. Why do they beach themselves? Well there are a number of theories. Like these I found over at The South African Portfolio Travel Blog:

• the whales may be following a confused or sick leader
• they may be swimming to the aid of an already stranded whale that is sending off a distress call
• whales have a bio-magnetic sense, which allows them to sense magnetic fields in the earth’s crust. Whales following magnetic field lines could beach themselves in areas where the field lines intersect with the coast. “One study in the UK found a correlation between local magnetic field lines and sites where whales are stranded alive
• pods may venture too close to the beach when hunting and become trapped by low tides
• socially the live whales may not wish to leave a fellow pod member who has beached and died

Out of these proposed reasons, I can’t see how the second last one makes any sense, seeing as some of the beached wales tried to REBEACH after they were rescued.

Whatever it may be, it’s sad that some of these creatures had to be euthanised. The obvious reason being that we can’t leave them so simply ‘drown’ on land. Sedning them out to sea is also not as simple as saying that, as they are pack animals. Who knows what kind of regrouping will happen out there.

IOL reports that one lone gunman had to do the deed. That’s gotta be a really kak job.

Not only did he have to shoot the animals, he was guarded and had to be protected himself from some crazies. I know there are well meaning people out there but really what were the alternatives?

As a police gunman walked from one end of Long Beach, Kommetjie, to the other, shooting whales, groups of rescuers made desperate last attempts to push the creatures back to sea.

But, their efforts were in vain, with most of the false killer whales re-beaching themselves.

Tempers flared and emotions spilled over when the shots rang out, with one woman being frog-marched off the beach by a policeman. Others sobbed, having spent hours in the icy water trying to save the distressed animals.

The gunman was flanked by law enforcement officials and National Sea Rescue Institute volunteers who formed a barrier to prevent people taking pictures.

So there you have it. So after a lot of effort on the part of ‘government’ (or whoever) this was the last straw, seeing as the animals were dying.

Mike Meyer, a scientist with Marine and Coastal Management, said that 41 or 42 whales were shot as it was considered to be the most humane option. The whales were slowly dying of organ failure and were suffering.

“We looked at all options including using a helicopter or navy landing craft to get them to sea, but they were not feasible. We even looked at using tugs.”

Meyer said false killer whales and pilot whales stranded regularly for no clear reason.

“They are like sheep. If one goes ashore the others follow.”