Sad Evening

[johnboy]

Hi,

I had a bit of a sad evening yesterday.

I moved to New Zealand about 8 months ago.

Any how My Neighbour Called me last night at 9:30 and asked If I would Help out with a Whale stranding.

I packed up warm clothes and borrowed a Wet Suit and we set off for the Beach where the Stranding had occured.

Opoutere Is a 4.5 km beach about halfway between Tairua ( where I Live) and Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula. We had to park at the South end of the beach and walk the 4.5 kms to the north end where the whale was.

However when we got there I transpired that a whole pod of Pilot whales had
come ashore approx 70 in total.

Sadly 50 of them were dead on the beach and a further 20 had made it backout to sea and 3 were still in the surf fighting for life. About 20 people were there some from the Department of Conservation and some from the local Iwi ( maori tribe).

A bull Pilot whale is a big animal an approx 20 were scattered on the sand
with the remaining 30 being cows and calfs. One calf was the size of a large salmon so must have been very very young. The whole scene was very very sad and very moving. A Lady from the Iwi was sitting on the sand next to one of the calfs saying a prayer in Maori.

We only stopped for 20 minutes as there was little we could do. The wind had picked up and it was getting cold. We hiked back to the Hi lux. On the walk back down the beach I saw a shooting star.

I dont really know much about Whales. But they seemed such powerful and noble creatures. It seemed such a waste. I thought about lots of things on the walk back down the moonlit beach. Mainly about how powerful a thing nature really is.

Any how thanks for listening

John

 

[al]

very sad indeed,how are you feeling now ?

 

[jakunen]

Quite a moving tale.

It's always hard when you try to help old Gaea and there's not much you can do.

In a similar sort of vein....
Whilst at school I worked at part-time at the local bird observatory and spent a lot of time rescuing fouled or injured sea birds and wild fowl. It was very disheartening when you spent a week nursing a guillemot back to health, soaping the oils of its feathers, caring for it, having the little swine try to rip your thumb off, only to find it dead one morning.
Be it a man made disaster, such as oiled birds, or a natural one, such as whales beaching, its always sad when you see the ones that didn't make it.

 

[bambodoggy]

That's a harsh one mate....sitting here in a comfy office I can only imagine how upsetting it must have been to see it.

I don't know if it'll help but try to focus on the fact that this was a natural happening and therefore in the great Scheme of things will have had a purpose even if we cannot see it. Think of all the sea birds that will be able to feed for weeks to come and the smaller insects that will make use of this unexpected gift of nature. I know it seems like small consolation when you look out onto that sad scene but nature can be like that sometimes.

Chin up Mate :roll:

 

[tomtom]

Bam is right.. it is most unlikely that this is a result of mans action, in fact no one it totaly sure why whales do this, nature can be cruel.. but there is always a flip side to these thing though it may not be clear to us and while it is of little consolation to you now theres not much more that could have been done.. so think of the 20 strong wales which made it back to sea and who will bread strong you wales.
Thanks for sharing

 

[Martyn]

I try to be fatalistic about these sorts of things. It's like when a cat kills a beautiful songbird. It's the way nature is, beautiful, harsh, cruel and powerful. It's the way things are, the way things have always been and most importantly, it's the way things are meant to be. Nature has had millions of years to practice her craft and she's very good at it. Who do we think we are, that we should know better? Leave nature to her own devices, she knows what she's doing.

 

[Hoodoo]

A pretty sad scene no doubt. :-(

 

[RovingArcher]

Very sad. We have had several blue whales wash up on our beaches lately. Ecologists are blaming the government because they were and I believe still are, testing a new sonar that causes the whales to become disoriented.

 

[hootchi]

That must have been a bad experence. Martyn has a good way to look at it but if RovingArcher is correct about some of the blue wales then that is alot worse.

 

[johnboy]

Hi,

Thanks for your kind words and support.

It was sad and in a strange way I feel privaliged to have seen it. I think what I was trying to elude to was the fact that having seen something natural on that scale It gives you an appreciation of how powerful nature is.

About a month ago I hiked up to the top of our local mountain Mt Pauanui and took the track back down that brings you out on the coast at a place called cave bay.
Sitting there eating an apple I watched a Pod of Orca cruise past the rocks. Which was not an everyday occurance for me back in the UK!

I feel incredibly lucky living here and privaliged to see nature at her best and worst.

More on the whale story can be found here. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=8501137

Regards

John

 

[Martyn]

if RovingArcher is correct about some of the blue wales then that is alot worse.

Indeed.

 

[RovingArcher]

I don't know what to believe. It was happening during the annual migration return to the North after birthing their calves and the Orca were hard at work, doing what Nature designed them to do. A couple of the beachings were calves that had obviously been through Orca attacks. But there were other, more mature whales as well that hadn't been mauled by the Orca or sharks. Whether it was the government tests or not I have no clue.

Martyn, I agree 100% with your post. By our standards, Nature is both beautiful and savage. It is the system of life on this little planet and who are we to argue.

Johnboy, I am almost envious of you. Participating with Nature on such a personal level as you have, comes to man very sparingly. You are indeed fortunate to have connected on such a level. I hope that you continue to be involved in such a good way.

 

[Lithril]

Can't believe how soul destroying it must be to see that many dying whales on the beach. Just got back from Oz, one particular day we were fishing off of a fairly remote jetty and no more than 30m out a pod of dolphins went passed, fantastic, made our day.

 

[Keith_Beef]

A similar thing happened on a Tasmanian beach:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4051053.stm


Keith.