Life's a Beach

55 false killer whales beached themselves on Kommetjie Beach on Saturday. 44 of the whales were shot after a decision was taken by local authorities that it would be the most humane act for these stranded animals. Thousands of Capetonians flocked to the beach to assist but in a statement released by Nan Rice of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group said that the volunteers probably did more harm than good on the beach. Apparently, those who came to help caused chaos on the beach and added to the dying whales stress levels. According to Rice, its stress that kills the animals.

An emotional day for all, Rice lashed out at the public's "morbid fascination" and that by trying to get the whales back into the sea while they are still disorientated only stressed them further. A resident of Kommetjie and one of the volunteers Mark Allewell believes that what authorities, volunteers and the public saw on the beach was exactly what was happening amongst the people there to assist. Although no one knows why whales beach themselves its believed that either the whales had lost their sense of direction or were brought there accidentally by their leader. Many of the public believe that that was the problem on the beach on Saturday too. The teams dispatched to assist were unable to lead the public or allow them to truly be of assistance.

"If the teams had given the public direction, or the correct information about how to help these whales, perhaps the situation could have turned out slightly differently." said Allewell. "Instead, we had a situation where no one knew what to do and so they did what they thought was best. Its the lack of leadership that was the most distressing factor on the beach on Saturday. It seems we had all lost our direction, even those in charge."

"Its a sad day when so many people come together with the goal of saving these whales when in the end, all but a few were killed. The authorities were outspoken and critical of the publics involvement but I believe that it was the authorities who failed to do their job." said Allewell.

A scientist at the Mammal Research Institute, Meredith Thornton said that, "False killer whales are highly social and the dominant whale could have something wrong and come ashore and the others follow. Or the leader could have a navigational error."

Meredith perhaps said a mouthful there, unfortunately the highly social creatures on the beach could have fallen prey to human error. To make matters worse, volunteers were ticketed for double parking by traffic officials who were some of the first to arrive on the scene and yet some of the least helpful.

"Its embarrassing. The situation was out of control and those in charge didn't take charge, they couldn't arrange a loud speaker to communicate with the public, they took a long time to respond to the situation and they were disorganised." said Allewell. "I hope there'll never be a next time, for the whales sake."