54 Small Killer Whales Shot to Keep them from Re-Beaching - South Africa

[Annces]

Forty-four False killer whales euthanized in South Africa
Last weekend, 55 False killer whales stranded themselves at Kommetjie Beach near Cape Town, South Africa, drawing a crowd dozens of volunteers to observe and help the animals return to the water.





Despite efforts by locals to return the whales to the water, a decision was made by Mike Meyer of Marine Coastal Management (MCM) to euthanize the animals. The reason given was that the whales which had been returned to the ocean had preceded to re-beach further down the shore and that the MCM did not want the animals “to suffer unnecessarily.” Rather than continue efforts to rescue the whales and lead them to open water, the MCM declared the decision to euthanize the whales in order to “put the whales out of their misery.”

Forty-four of the 55 beached False killer whales were shot at point blank in range in front of the crowd, which included children. The observers were told to go home.

http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/news-090604-1.html









(Scientists shouldn't be in charge of rescue operations. No hearts or connection to these animals).

[NV Whino]

1. Let's see that falls under the "burn the village to save it" act?

[ZombieHorde]

2. I wonder what they will do with the meat. nt

[Arkansas Granny]

3. As horrible as this was, it sometimes helps to read other accounts and get

a different perspective on this type of incident. Apparently this was done as a last resort to prevent these whales from further suffering after heroic efforts had been taken trying to return them to deeper waters.

One of the comments to this article came from one of the volunteers:

It was a sad situation, we tried to move them towards the sea, they would go and we would be all cheering and then they would come back towards the beach again. The sea was rough which made the whole process even more tiring for everyone. We tried to calm them down and they did as soon as we touched them, they looked at us with their incredible eyes as if to say 'what is happening to us?' There was nothing we could do. The volunteers really tried hard. It was very sad indeed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8075250.stm

Nan Rice, head of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group, told the South African Press Association said about the shootings, "I feel quite sad, but it is the right thing to do. They are huge animals and are stranded over a vast area.”

http://whalecity.com/news/2009/05/31/beached-whales-shot-south-africa