Whale rescue captivates Punalu'u crowd

PUNALU‘U — A rescue drama unfolded at Punalu‘u Beach yesterday as wildlife workers and volunteers struggled heroically to save a young 15-foot humpback whale that was stranded inside the reef from morning until early evening.

A baby whale beached at Punalu'u yesterday and eventually turned itself around and managed to swim to deeper water. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Around 6:30 p.m., 15 people from the National Marine Fisheries Service and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources managed to sedate the one-ton juvenile, sling it with a nylon webbing and guide it out to sea. But they weren’t celebrating last night.

"We don’t count our chickens before they hatch," said Bradley Ryon, who coordinated the rescue. "We don’t know what tomorrow will bring."

If the whale returns, everything could start over again. DLNR enforcement officers will check the shore today.

Yesterday around 10 a.m. Dominic Aki, who was driving to the North Shore to surf, said he spotted the whale 30 yards offshore and watched in astonishment through pouring rain as it swam up and down the beach, "obviously in distress." After a short while the whale surged toward the shore, beaching itself and flopping onto its back in front of Ching’s Punalu‘u Store, Aki said.

Motorists took notice and some stopped to watch and help. About 15 people tried to roll the animal over and push it back into the ocean, said Dylan Thomas, 18. But the whale kept beaching itself.

Four or five times it got stuck on the near shore reef and again people tried to free it. At one time the whale’s thrashing knocked several of its rescuers over, but no one was injured, he said.

"After we did that a few times, we realized we couldn’t save it," Thomas said. "Eventually we tried to just keep it upright so it could breathe."

Brian Emery, 18, said he saw several scrapes on the animal’s underside, apparently from the reef.

About a hundred people watched as the young whale thrashed about in shallow water. Motorists trying to get a glimpse of the situation backed up traffic on Kamehameha Highway, police said.

By 11 a.m. the whale lay listlessly in about two feet of water off the beach. It rolled several times, headed into shore but stopped short of beaching itself. It floated in the water, seeming to rest.

Capturing residents' attention

Officers from the DLNR and National Marine Fisheries Services were at the beach waiting for boats, a veterinarian and other help before starting their rescue attempt. The officers kept the public a safe distance from the animal.

The people at the beach were anxious with anticipation. Many thought the whale would eventually triumph and head out to sea, but others weren’t so sure. Richard and Mary Kerr, of Illinois, were touring the island and stopped when they saw the whale. "It’s really sad because he keeps coming back in," Mary said.

Around noon the whale turned away from shore and headed out to sea, slowly swimming back and forth along the shore as it entered deeper water. The people on the beach cheered, but that soon turned to worry as the whale got hung up on the outer reef and was tossed about by the waves.

Patty Hindmanly, of Punalu‘u, watched through binoculars and gave an account to friends standing nearby. At times the whale struggled free but was disoriented and became caught on the reef again, she said. Her first excitement about the whale’s predicament soon turned sour.

"This is something you always want to see, but when you do it’s bad," Hindmanly said. "You see the danger of it."

Joe Arceneaux, with Marine Fisheries Service Pacific Island Area Office, couldn’t say why the whale beached itself, but that other whales who have done that were sick or filled with parasites. The residents’ attempt to save the animal by pushing it back into the water probably saved the whale’s life, Arceneaux said.

"If they stay on the beach too long, they get problems with overheating and circulation problems," he said. "Blood pools in their stomach and their weight suffocates them."

Ryon had taken charge of the effort to assess the whale’s condition and help it, setting up a command post near Kaya’s Store. DLNR brought three boats: two Boston Whalers and a jet boat.

An attempt to herd the whale out around 1:45 p.m. failed. Only 100 feet from a channel, the whale was unresponsive but in good condition, Ryon said.

"We want to get it away from the reef, either all the way through or back into deeper water," he said.

Finally their efforts paid off.

Margaret Akamine Dupree, protected species program coordinator with Marine Fisheries, said veterinarians Gregg Levine and Robert Braun sedated the animal. It was slung with a nylon web about the width of a seat belt.

"We were successful in getting the animal off the reef and taking it out to the channel where it swam through," Dupree said.

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