Pilot whales rescued off Bayfield in 'phenomenal' community effort
'Some of the animals were high and dry on the sand,' says Marine Animal Response Society
Rescue crews have saved a pod of 14 pilot whales that had beached themselves off Bayfield near Antigonish, N.S., on Thursday morning.
Vernon Boudreau, chief of the Tracadie and District Volunteer Fire Department, said about 100 people — including dozens from the community — helped rescue the animals.
"It was a horrible feeling to see the poor animals here on the beach. It was a family — they stuck together," he said.
"The community was really helpful. If the whales could say thank you [they would]."
The whales got stuck Wednesday evening. The Marine Animal Response Society, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the fire department and locals all started helping. They managed to push the creatures into shallow water and monitored them overnight.
The pod beached themselves, again, on the morning high tide. The rescue squad got them back out into deeper waters and left Thursday afternoon, several hours after the whales were last seen.
Tonya Wimmer, president of the Marine Animal Response Society, said Thursday's rescue was a race against the tide.
"Some of the animals were high and dry on the sand. In the end, all 14 animals got pulled out in less than two hours — which is pretty phenomenal given that by the time it ended the last few ones were literally almost sitting in mud," she said.
Boudreau said the whales seemed tired and stressed.
"They tried to roll on their sides, so I appointed a couple people as babysitters to hold them upright and watch the blowholes," he said.
Most of the pod sailed off happily. The biggest one, which might have been ill, is being babysat by Fisheries and Oceans Canada crews and they hope to reunite it with the family.
"In everybody's heart, they felt good," Boudreau said.
'Circling' one whale
Some whales in the pod kept circling one of the others last night, Wimmer said, adding it could be a sign that whale is sick or old.
"No major injuries, nothing majorly wrong. But if it's an older animal it's hard to tell," she said. Wimmer said once they were floated the whales had a lot of energy.
Rescuers aren't sure if these are the same whales that were beached off Judique, in Cape Breton, earlier this week.
"At the moment it doesn't sound like they're the same animals just purely because people saw pilot whales milling around this area at the same time the ones were around Judique. It could be totally separate groups," she said.
The Marine Animal Response Society say it's unusual to have two major rescues in one week.