More than 50 pilot whales beached on Long Beach in Kommetjie, in Cape Town, on Saturday, reported The Associated Press, and the NSRI volunteers battled to steer the whales weighing over 1 000 kg each back into the rough seas.
The result was that 34 whales had to be shot in the head with a pistol, the most “humane” way for them to be “helped”, as they kept rebeaching themselves, it was said.
Nan Rice, of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, said of the whale killing: “I feel quite sad, but it is the right thing to do”. She explained that mass strandings are stressful for whales. Beaching takes place due to ‘navigational error’, she said, according to The Sunday Independent.
Other reasons for beaching may be that a whale may be sick or have parasites, which can affect its sense of direction, seeking out land. This may cause other whales to follow suit, due to the social bonding between whales, reports the Sunday Argus. Rip currents may also confuse the whales’ sonar. The navy has denied doing any sonar testing which may have led to the beaching of the whales.
Twenty whales were saved, and successfully returned to sea. Front-end loaders were used to move the whales back into the sea.
The BBC was at the scene, and filmed the rescue operation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8075250.stm
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all they had to do was take the leader of the pack and drive him back to sea and naturally the rest of the pack would have followed, the reason the whales kept coming back was because the leader of the pack was still at the beach…