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| Wildlife workers and dozens of volunteers worked Monday to save a 15-foot baby humpback whale. Danah Jones of Hau‘ula, holding his 8-month-old son, Kendrick, came to the aid.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
 Whale strandings stump experts
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau
As hundreds of whales winter around Hawai‘i each year it’s not unusual that some get into trouble, as a baby humpback did Monday when it beached itself at Punalu‘u.
Many of the whales that migrate into Hawai‘i waters are mothers with calves, making the likelihood of strandings higher, those who study marine mammals said yesterday.
The humpback that found trouble on the reef at Punalu‘u did not reappear in the waters off the North Shore after it was ushered back into the sea, though officials are still on the lookout.
"It’s common for stranded animals to re-strand," said Bradley Ryon of the National Marine Fisheries Service, who coordinated the rescue efforts. "I’m not sure of the reasons but it’s typical."
Wildlife workers and dozens of volunteers had worked throughout the day to save the 15-foot humpback, and were finally successful by early evening when they were able to sedate the one-ton juvenile, sling it with nylon webbing and guide it out to sea.
Worried that the whale would reappear, Tom Friel, special agent with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said he checked the waters off Punalu‘u yesterday morning and saw no sign of it.
"The state and I will check several times over the next couple of days," Friel said.
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