Pilot Whale Rescue

I got to the volunteer area for the Pilot Whales in southern Florida. To clear some things up, they are NOT an endangered species. They live in pods and what happened with this pod they think is that one of the whales was sick and tried to beach itself, and the other whales followed.  There were 26 at first, a number of them didn't make it, while some of them they nursed back to health and released. They want to try to release at least 2 whales at a time so they aren't 'alone' which is a good idea.  The night I volunteered, I arrived around 7:45 with my wet suite.  They had you sign some forms and gave you wet suite type water shoes to wear because normal water shoes had a good chance of slipping. The area is enclosed with a metal fence because sharks were coming near shore to try and attack/ eat the injured whales (free food).  We took turns holding the whales to keep their blow holes above water so they wouldn't drown. The first shift I was on (8-12) went well. I was on 303 and 302, the ones with pnemonia.  The air they were breathing out was a little odorous, but it is expected because they were sick.  There was a combination of no shows and a lack of volunteers for the 12-4am shift, so most of us stayed through, including I.  The community had done a nice job with food and drink donations for the staff and volunteers which was nice to get a little pick me up after a few hours of keeping steady these large creatures.  They had 2-3 people on each whale to support them, and also they advised us to "hold on for dear life" if they got spooked or decided to try to swim away or attack (they are protective of their pod members, and at one point when I was switching I had to get out of the water fast and then wait till the biggest one calmed down before I went to hold the baby and switch out with someone. It definietly was a little unnerving.  I also got a chance to hold the biggest one (13 feet) #300, I had 2 men who were on the animal with me, a good thing because for a little while we had to really try to control it! Even though things are lighter in the water, they still were a bit heavy- the way you hold them, sometimes the whales decide to rest their bellies on your knee, so imagine a 4 hour lunge in the water with a whale on your lunged leg...yup, that was me. I got 2 short breaks of about 25 minutes and the rest of the time pretty much i was in the water, but it was so worth it! I left around 5am, got back home at 530 and then showered then went to bed at 6am.  The biologists and the marine rescue team members were really cool, some live around here and others were flown in from different areas of the country.

They expect to continue to need help for the next month or so, around the clock and everyday. Yesterday I heard news that they had to euthanize one of the sick ones :(  When I was there a few weeks ago though, the ones with pnemonia you could hear how difficult it was for them to breathe, so if it got worse then I can only imagine. I hope the other one survives though!