Over 100 short-finned pilot whales were rescued from stranding on a beach in Sri Lanka. The stranding occurred near Panadura on November 2.
The navy, environmental officers, residents and the police worked together to refloat the animals, according to the BBC.
Locals broke curfew to assist in getting the mammals into deeper water. Speaking to AFP, marine biologist Dr Asha De Vos said: ‘The people around here got together and saved most of them.’
Sadly not all of the animals were rescued and a number of them perished.
‘But some of the whales were very tired fighting to stay afloat the whole night and didn’t have enough strength to go to deep sea. That is why a few died,’ De Vos added.
Report on a dead female pilot whale from the mass stranding event that occurred in Panadura, Sri Lanka.
Check out the video here (I can only slip 30 s so def click on the link)https://t.co/5SUpid7elA pic.twitter.com/AuLORSehr2— Asha de Vos Ph.D. (@ashadevos) November 4, 2020
‘On Monday evening (2nd November), around 100 whales were reported beaching on the Panadura Beach. Responding promptly to the situation the Navy partnered with Sri Lanka Coast Guard lifesaving teams, Police lifesavers, volunteer lifeguards and residents to get this special operation underway.
‘The mission was augmented by 30 naval personnel, an Inshore Patrol Craft, a group of 30 Coast Guard personnel, lifesaving boat, 06 naval personnel attached to the Rapid Response Relief and Rescue Unit, Kalutara along with 02 lifesaving boats,’ said the Sri Lankan Navy in a statement.
Pilot whales are notorious for beaching. If a member of the pod is sick or in distress, it will call the other members to follow it to the beach, causing a mass stranding.
Operations are underway by the SL Navy,Coast Guard,WildLife Dept, NARA, other Govt Agencies and Environmental Orgs to rescue a pod of #Whales and #Dolphins stranded on the Panadura Beach. Thank you to @RajapaksaNamal and others who called, msgd n coordinated in the rescue mission pic.twitter.com/z5fDnWqGws
— Kanchana Wijesekera (@kanchana_wij) November 2, 2020
“100+ whales have been stranded on a beach in Sri Lanka, the country’s worst whale stranding in history.
Local volunteers are working to push them back, but many of the pilot whales keep getting re-stranded and may die, say officials. The cause is u… pic.twitter.com/IS7xywSppZ”
— Muzamil (@promuzi) November 3, 2020
Race to save whales in Sri Lanka’s biggest mass strandinghttps://t.co/DsI456h3mC
📸 Lakruwan Wanniarachchi pic.twitter.com/XtBwcyBUvJ
— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 3, 2020
Picture: Twitter/ Muzamil @promuzi
