Sad aftermath - image by jeff Ayliffe

On Saturday morning, I recieved a call from Sarah of Dive Action, asking me if I was able to go to Kommetjie and assist with a mass stranding of False-Killer Whales. I was told to keep it quiet, apart from contacting fellow divers who may be able to assist. Enroute to the beach, I heard a radio broadcast requesting a 'front-end loader', and asking that people stay away! Well, in the event that you want to attract people to a beach by the thousand, just get a major radio station to tell the story..and request that people stay clear. It was like bees to a honey pot, as the vehicles and crowds arrived by the thousands.

I'm not going to go into detail here about the day, suffice to say that I was left irritated and at times, just plain furious by blaring sirens, and hysterical 'officials' ranging from security guards to neighbourhood watch, all of whom wanted to exercise their little piece of authority on the beach. 

My heartfelt thanks go to those who tried to do what they could in the water, and what a difficult call it must have been for Mike Meyer and the avaliable team who were tasked with dealing with the situation. Remember that the top minds made the call to kill the animals based on having exhausted all options. I trust in that call, and as I said on air, to those who scream from the sidelines about the shooting, remember that in 3 weeks time, when all is forgotten, Mike and his team will be continuing to work on saving and assisting other marine life and mammals, as they do day in and day out.

To those who cry out about blasts, human interference, etc, remember that in 1928, on this same beach..100 False Killer Whales beached themselves in the SAME WAY! Helpers swam them out, and like this weekend, they RETURNED to the beach. No blasts were factors, no overpopulated human interference, just nature. Unlike Saturday however, those 100 were left to die the natural way, and the reports tell of moaning and cries from dying whales, in agony for for 4 days! Nature caused the beaching, perhaps the sea-state was similar and played a role, but at the end of the day, it happened before..and it WILL happened again. Man does'nt understand. But the calls on saturday were made by those with more understanding, and more compassion than most.