Sea World and lifesaving legend Trevor Hendy try and save stranded Palm Beach whale
GOLD Coasters began a frantic beached whale rescue last night that’s expected to continue today.
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LOCALS were in the midst of a frantic whale rescue on a Gold Coast beach last night which was expected to continue until this morning.
An emergency call at about 7pm alerted authorities to a juvenile humpback whale stranded on Palm Beach – it wasn’t far off the sand and in about 30cm of water.
A sizeable crowd of more than 70 – including Sea World staff and Australian ironman legend Trevor Hendy – had joined the rescue effort by 9pm last night.
Lifesaving star Hendy told the Bulletin when he arrived there were about six people – and then word spread and the crowd mushroomed.
“It’s worth it for a whale,” Hendy said.
However, Queensland police last night urged people to stay away while agencies sorted it out as crowds would only distress the whale.
It was unknown if it was the same whale freed earlier in the day after becoming entangled in fishing net south of Byron Bay, about 160km south of Brisbane – however it’s understood the Byron Bay whale was an adult and the Palm Beach one is a calf.
EXCLUSIVE PICS: WHALE DRAMA AT PALM BEACH
At Palm Beach, resident Amanda Antcliss spotted the beached humpback first while walking her dog on the beach – and called in friends and authorities.
“My dog started barking and freaking out. My friends all came down and we brought in buckets and towels in case we needed them (to keep it wet).”
Doug Gallagher estimated it was about 6m long and weighed about six tonnes.
“When I arrived it seemed to be having a good go at getting back out,” Mr Gallagher said, adding Sea World staff wanted people to stop so they could assess the situation.
Volunteer Samantha McLaughlin, with Sea Shepherd Australia, said she believed Sea World Gold Coast staff would wait until high tide early in the morning to assess moving the whale.
Miss McLaughlin said it was a three-year-old and appeared uninjured, though a local at the scene, Shane Pierce, said it seemed to have shark bites.
The Gold Coast Bulletin understands from authorities that Sea World staff, in conjunction with Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services, weren’t going to try and move it under darkness and would wait until first light this morning to reassess conditions.
Also the Sea World director of marine sciences, Trevor Long , was en route to the scene as the Bulletin went to deadline – and the plan was to keep the whale calf as calm as possible.
Earlier in the day, fisheries crews successfully freed a distressed humpback whale entangled in a fishing net south of Byron Bay.
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service crews and Queensland Fisheries officers arrived at The Pass, south of Byron Bay, to rescue the whale which had rope tangled tightly around its tail and dorsal fin.
National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman Lawrence Orel said the 12m whale was freed near Cape Byron at about 3.45pm after entanglement crews spent an hour-and-a-half trying to free the animal.
Mr Orel said another whale was also freed on the southern NSW coast in Narooma yesterday afternoon.
“The prognosis for both animals is good, we expect there will be no lasting effects.”
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