Authorities involved in the operation to save 20 beached whales in Cape Town will meet to discuss how to improve their methods.
|||Cape Town - Authorities involved in the massive operation to save 20 beached whales in Noordhoek plan to meet next week to discuss how to improve their methods – but have assured the public they went all out to assist the stranded mammals.
The 20 false killer whales beached early on Sunday.
One managed to swim free, five died, nine were put down and the remaining five were transported to the Simon’s Town Naval Base where they were placed on tugs then released offshore.
But on Monday, the five had re-beached and were put down.
Mike Meyer, of the Department of Environment’s Oceans and Coast branch, who was involved in the Noordhoek operation, said a meeting for specific volunteers, city officials, law enforcement and others involved would be held next week.
“There’s always room for improvement. We’ll look at the things that didn’t go well,” Meyer said.
One of “the hitches”, the number of people that had come to the beach, would be discussed.
Meyer said during Sunday’s operation:
* Reaction time had been affected by various factors, including that not all emergency services staff were operational and immediately available as it was a Sunday.
Authorities often received hoax calls about beachings, therefore before a full-scale rescue operation was launched, an official had to get to the scene to assess what had happened and how many animals were affected.
Rescue services were then alerted accordingly.
Meyer said instead of rushing the beached whales back into the sea, which was not a safe option, rescuers had tended to them.
Meyer said whales could be kept safely out of the water, if adequately hydrated, for a number of hours.
* Logistics had been tricky. Front-end loaders, flat-bed trucks and heavy equipment were used to remove surviving whales from the beach.
Meyer said the vehicles were stationed at a depot in Maitland and staff had to be sorted out to access these.
The vehicles then had to negotiate a packed Noordhoek Beach. “They had to get through the traffic. That’s why we block people out,” he said, referring to metro police officers who had tried to control and prevent scores of people getting to the whales.
Meyer said the area where the whales had beached was not near access points to the beach.
“The sand is very soft. A lot of vehicles got stuck.”
* Treatment of the whales was carefully thought out.
Four years ago, in Kommetjie 55 false killer whales had beached in Kommetjie and thousands of people had packed the beach with some trying to swim the mammals back out.
On Monday, Meyer said rescuers had learned from this and it had been decided not to swim them out.
This was because once back in the water the whales could have communicated with others, causing more to beach and on Sunday, sea conditions were rough with “high energy waves” which would have made it unsafe for people and the whales.
* The decision to put down some was made after authorities assessed the whales.
Those that were “not going to make it” were shot with a rifle. “The welfare of the animal comes first. Not how people feel,” he said.
caryn.dolley@inl.co.za
Cape Times