<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/26/as-shots-rang-out-the-battle-to-save-western-australias-stranded-whales-was-over>
"It wasn’t easy for the two officers grasping pink ribbons to wade between the
1,000kg pilot whales and the dozens of volunteers.
Their job was to identify the distressed animals in the pod, those who rolled
rather than bobbed in the water ready to swim. The ribbons were not signs of
life but markers of impending death.
The previous day, almost 100 long-finned pilot whales had stranded at Cheynes
beach on Western Australia’s southern coast. Now, on Wednesday, the race was on
to save 47 animals that had survived the night.
Among the survivors were calves that cried out in whistles, as well as adults,
some up to 4 metres long, that struggled to stay afloat.
Albany local Colleen Smetham was one of the hundreds of volunteers who turned
up to the beach desperately trying to herd the pod back out to sea.
She spent hours steadying a large pilot whale but, by late afternoon, her
animal was one of many that had attracted a pink ribbon."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
