On Thursday 20 March, British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) received multiple calls regarding a whale in the surf at Gwithian Towans beach, near Hayle, Cornwall. The whale, a long-finned pilot whale, was seen thrashing as it was washed into the shallow shelving beach on the outgoing tide.
BDMLR’s regional team of specially trained Marine Mammal Medics responded and Falmouth Coastguard Operations Centre was also contacted and its Portreath team attended to manage public safety. Conditions were sunny and clear, but with a very strong wind, and relatively calm seas with small surf.
As BDMLR Medics arrived, the whale was fully beached on its right side with the tide still outgoing. Members of the public helped put water on the whale to prevent it from drying out and were digging a small channel to help water from the sea run up towards it. It is important to prevent a whale’s skin from drying out, which happened quickly in the sun and wind, and the public proved a big help in this, the initial stages of the rescue.
The whale, identified as a three-and-a-half metre female, had some old well-healed wounds on her back in front of the dorsal fin, and a small, but deeper injury into the chest which appeared slightly infected and had a few parasites inside. The breathing rate was around five breaths per minute, but within half an hour began to improve, decreasing to three breaths a minute as she was put upright and the first aid made her more comfortable.
Assessment by specialist marine mammal vets indicated the whale was in moderate body condition, and with no other significant concerns visible the decision was made to refloat. This meant waiting for the tide to return, as there is no safe way to move an animal of this size and weight without causing more damage and distress. Pilot whales, however, are normally a very gregarious species, and this one appeared to be alone with no sightings of other animals in the area, which was also taken into consideration.
The team used its specialist whale rescue pontoon system to hold the whale upright. This system allows BDMLR to refloat an animal much sooner than waiting for the tide to completely refloat it, thus saving time and stress on the animal. Once the water was deep enough the team walked the whale out and allowed it time to recover before attempting a release.
Eventually the animal appeared to attempt to swim, so it was let go and it headed out into the bay, turning to go parallel to the shore in a westerly direction. Once out of sight, the team made the very long walk back to the car park with a lot of gear.
Sadly, the whale restranded on the opposite side of the bay at St Ives an hour or so later. Several team members relocated to the scene along with the St Ives Coastguard Rescue Team. However, the whale was free swimming among rocks on an incoming tide, making it too risky to get to it. It was observed for around an hour as it moved along the shoreline. As it got dark the whale managed to turn and headed out to sea and was quickly lost to sight. The team stood down again at this point.
Unfortunately, at first light on 21 March, the whale was relocated, but had died in the night.
BDMLR would like to thank the many members of the public for their support and assistance, as well as the Maritime Coastguard Agency teams who provided safety cover and crowd control. A huge thank you also to all the volunteer Marine Mammal Medics and staff for attending and coordinating the incident. This was a protracted and exhausting incident hampered by the long distance from the nearest access point and strong winds, however there was excellent teamwork throughout. The animal will now go for a post mortem to discover what underlying and undetectable condition it had that led to it becoming beached.
If you find a stranded cetacean, please call the BDMLR hotline on 01825 765546 where they can provide immediate advice and dispatch their responder, veterinarians and equipment to the area as quickly as possible.
Photo credit: BDMLR/Gavin Parsons
