Rogue rescuers dive in to ‘save’ whale after Sea World staff pull pin for night
ALMOST 24 hours hard work appeared to go up the spout in minutes last night when “rogue” rescuers seemingly turned a stranded whale back the wrong way.
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ALMOST 24 hours of hard work was reversed in 10 minutes when a group of “rogue” rescuers jumped barriers and rushed into the water in a bid to free a juvenile whale stranded at Palm Beach.
The group of about 40 people, including Sea Shepherd volunteers, whale researchers and the general public, entered the water to help – frustrated that Sea World had called off rescue efforts for the day about 6pm.
Instead, the group undid Sea World’s rescue efforts, distressing the whale and turning the animal back to face the shore, the same way it was facing when it beached itself on Tuesday night.
Sea World tried three times during the morning high tide and another three times late yesterday afternoon to attach a harness to the whale and pull it out to sea.
Each attempt was unsuccessful and crews were forced to call off further efforts when fading light and water conditions meant the rescue would be dangerous to all involved.
Staff from Sea World and government agencies monitored the whale and assessed it regularly last night.
But the dangers did little to frighten the group of wannabe rescuers, with former whale researcher and Coolangatta local Sean Samer saying the risks barely crossed his mind.
“I felt at the end when Sea World abandoned the whale there was more that could be done,” he said.
“There are some risks but you can’t be worried about that when you are helping to save a creature.”
Byron Bay local Howie Cooke was also involved and said they did no harm to the animal and when pressed on whether they had reversed Sea World’s efforts he said the whale would have turned with the tide.
“She was just beautiful and was very calm and gentle while we were out there helping, she knew what we were trying to do,” he said.
NEWS: WHALE SAGE WRAP FROM DAY ONE
“It is unfortunate that the whale is now facing the shore ... but there is all likelihood that it would have happened anyway on the tide.”
Sea World director of marine sciences Trevor Long said the incident was dangerous and placed more strain on the already distressed whale.
“It was a very dangerous situation ... and it has put the whale in a position that is now very difficult for us because it is facing the shore,” he said.
“It definitely would have been distressing for the whale. It is a very difficult situation.”
Former ironman Trevor Hendy was involved in the initial rescue effort on Tuesday night and said the rush to help the whale simply came down to human nature.
“In the old days when something like this happened everyone would run in and help and not be worried about getting stuck under a whale,” he said.
“Of course people are going to rush in and help because they don’t want the whale to die, but Sea World doesn’t want them to because of safety issues so you can understand both sides.”
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Local MP Michael Hart, who was on the beach all day monitoring the rescue effort, said he was disappointed to see the lack of respect shown to Sea World’s efforts.
“Experts in the area deemed it unsafe so it was really disappointing for these people to go into the water and to see that they had obviously been planning it all day,” he said.
Brisbane resident Ann-Maree Phillips was among the hundreds of spectators on the beach and said she had heard the group planning their own rescue from early yesterday morning.
“They have been here since 4.30am and they said that if Sea World ‘didn’t do their job’ and free the whale they would save it and that they had done it before,” she said. “They were walking around asking for about 40 volunteers from the public and then they were telling the volunteers what to do once they got into the water.
“I figure it’s probably better than nothing if they want to try to help when the whale has been stranded this long.”
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