{"id":2595,"date":"2009-06-01T07:56:54","date_gmt":"2009-06-01T05:56:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=2595"},"modified":"2009-07-10T16:59:53","modified_gmt":"2009-07-10T14:59:53","slug":"whales-beach-on-kommetjie-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/whales-beach-on-kommetjie-beach\/","title":{"rendered":"Whales beach on Kommetjie beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>More than 50 pilot whales beached on Long Beach in Kommetjie, in Cape Town, on Saturday, reported The Associated<\/strong> Press,<\/strong> and the NSRI volunteers battled to steer the whales weighing over 1 000 kg each back into the rough seas.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Nan Rice, of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, said of the whale killing:\u00a0 “I feel quite sad, but it is the right thing to do”.\u00a0\u00a0 She explained that mass strandings are stressful for whales.\u00a0 Beaching takes place due to ‘navigational error’, she said, according to The Sunday Independent<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other reasons for beaching may be that\u00a0a whale may be sick or have parasites, which can affect\u00a0its sense of direction, seeking out land.\u00a0\u00a0This may cause other whales to follow suit, due to the social bonding between whales, reports the Sunday Argus.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 Rip currents may also confuse the whales’ sonar.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0The navy has denied doing any sonar testing which may have led to the beaching of the whales.<\/p>\n

Twenty whales were saved, and successfully returned to sea.\u00a0 Front-end loaders were used to move the whales back into the sea.<\/p>\n

The BBC<\/strong> was at the scene, and filmed the rescue operation: http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/africa\/8075250.stm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,241],"tags":[890,32366,1441,1433,1440,1439,766,1432,1442,376],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t