Where Art Meets the Heart

Thursday 2nd June 2005

Today... the whales...they came to our shores yet again to beach themselves and face a certain death... oh dear, where do I start.....

I wanted to share this experience with you.....

I am slowly ceasing my shaking but my heart is still trembling inside me. I cannot believe how moving this is. No wonder people come from all over to get in the water and try to help. I am sure that like me, they don't think they can do anything really useful, but just want to be near the whales, touching them, experiencing them, and giving them love.

Oh God....what a sight, to see these magnificent creatures piled up on the beach with the seaweed like refuse. They seemed so helpless and hopeless. As i walked towards them, my eyes burned and my heart was already weeping. What a huge tragedy, unfolding on this once calm beach.

It just keeps happening here in this bay where I live. Such a common occurence now, I have no idea why they choose to beach themselves here. What ever is it that drives them into Geographe bay, is it something they fear "out there" that sends them blindly into this corner, or is it something within them? There was over 100 of them, False Killer Whales, a different species to the last mass whale stranding, but everything else, even the location, was so similar.

I was hoping to find out, I just felt if I could sit with them, touch them, and listen to them, I might be able to get a clue. How egotistical of me, thinking that I might get to actually communicate here, but yes, I did still hold great hope that something could be shared.

It was heartwrenching...where do you start? I guess it did not matter, there were so many and even with volunteers pouring down to the beach in their hundreds, still not enough hands to help. The water was grey and rough, a storm was brewing and you could feel it in the air. The winter seaweed was already dotting the beach and making the water look filthy. But getting into the water with the whales, none of this mattered.... only the whales. I was amazed at how huge they were and so heavy. Some had slumped over on their sides in the shallows, and we had to try to get them upright and keep them that way, especially keeping their blowholes out of the waves so they could breathe. But they were a dead weight, weighing, in some case many tons! With six men helping, and waiting for a big wave to wash in around us, we had a chance of pushing the whale back upright, but then, it was so hard to hold it there. Many times, the weight came crashing down and no matter how hard we tried, it was nearly impossible to stop it. At one point, I had my knees wedged under this massive whale, and all my body weight on him, but when his weight came down, I knew I would be crushed beneath his body and not able to get out. By myself, I had no hope of even budging that huge body, and even with several others, we really could do little. The whales were all pressed in near each other, so often to right one, we had to move another. It seemed a hopeless, endless task. And that was just for starters.

The plan was to hold them upright, and slowly pull them back into the water......pulling them back involved teams of people as in a tug of war, with a huge canvas rope, and a sling. But the Wildlife Officers were saying they must not be taken out in the deeper water and allowed to go free because being the social animals they are, any freed whale would only return to beach itself somewhere else. At one point, while I was watching, one whale got pushed out far enought to start swimming and it broke free and raced off into the ocean. It was such an amazing sight and everyone cheered. But then those bloody officials came in with their rules and regulations and crushed everyones momentary joy by informing us that this might mean death to the whale, and that we must prepare ourselves for them all to die! The Wildlife guy went on to say that the weight of their bodies was crushing their organs as they lay on the beach, without the water to buoy them and that we must keep rocking them, because often this is why they later rebeached and died, due to inner damage after the first stranding....... and we obviously had to keep wetting them, but at all times, avoid putting water over their blow holes as it would go straight into their lungs. (at which point, a few of us felt great pain, because originally, we were handed buckets and told to pour water over their heads etc, and I guess, at times, the water would have gone in their blowholes) One whale I spent a lot of time with, as i was stroking him and leaned over his head, he blew straight up into my face....... it was really a earthshaking moment, not only because it scared me, but because I breathed in the breath that came out of this magnificent ocean dweller and felt his water blow over my face! (Ironically, the next day, I read somewhere that some volunteers had been warned to not inhale the air from the whales' blowholes because it might be toxic to them or at least harmful!)

One huge whale caught my attention. I had been working with another big whale, who was rather battered and scarred. He seemed to have given up, laying there, barely breathing, and we had a real fight on our hands to get his huge body upright so his breathing hole was out of the waves. At one point, while resting, because I had got to the point where my legs would not work anymore, and I could not walk on them, I sat in the shallows near his head and put my hand on his giant torn flipper. Oh what a sensation to see our two hands like that, one black and one white!

But just up from this whale was another, who had been in my focus the whole time. He was constantly lifting his head high up, arching his body and holding his tail up. He seemed so commanding and very lively, as if trying to get attention. I watched as he continually lifted his head up to people, almost as if trying to tell them something. I felt deeply that he was the lead whale of this pod, and that somehow, he felt responsible. Once I moved up to where he was, and got in the water with him, I sat near his face. I put my hands on his skin and stroked him. He was so warm! I felt the warmth of him emanate through my own body (wow, they are so warm! It is like touching a human, only a very big heavy one)! (I think I might have been the only fool there by this time without a wetsuit to protect me!!!) Then he started whistling and clicking and I felt the vibrations course through me. Oh God, it made me cry, to feel this massive creature talking and trying to communicate. I felt he was attempting to get a message to all of the others, and even then, I also felt his despair at having lead them all onto this beach, or at least, been unable to stop them and turn them away from this disaster. I remember asking him "why" and he whistled and sang softly and it made my heart so sad. His huge eye looked into mine, for a while there, I felt this awesome connection as our eyes met and his eye widened. I could not take my eyes off his. And still he clicked and sounded. What was he trying to tell me? Tell all of us? I just felt his sadness and despair, but I do admit, I also felt his hope and his strength, and the belief that YES, we could turn him and his herd around and get them back to where they belonged......deeper water, safety, freedom.

Having just written that, the sounds of the whale song haunts me...... I wish there had been something more I could do. I felt so darn useless. And with a storm brewing, we were told that the work would go all night and it would not be until morning that the boats would come in to help get them all out to sea..... or at least those that were still alive. Honestly, it felt so desperate to be there and hear the officials say these things. I guess, like so many others, it just seemed important to put these big creatures into the deeper water and let them go.......or stay, as the case may be, but at least give them the chance to decide.

I know I thought that maybe, if I could just be close to one of the whales and sit with them, I might learn something, but it was so hard to be in that place of silence. There were so many people everywhere around me, television crews and photographers, people bringing in hot drinks, noise, etc, and then just the sheer despair and sadness of this heartbreaking situation. It was difficult to find a still quite moment to just listen. Yet even so, a few times, I bowed my head and placed it on the whale, and sent my love into him, and begged him to forgive us and help us to help him and his pod. There just seemed, in those instances, an exchange of something way too deep for me to decipher at this point....but I know I will never forget it.

Once I got out of the water, I felt so cold. In the water, it felt so right, but out of it, my clothes were wet and icy and hanging off me. I did not care. It was heartbreaking to stand on that shore and look at that scene. I just wished I knew what I could do. My heart was really pouring out all of the love and silent prayers for the wellbeing of these whales, but my hands were cold and blue and useless. Hundreds, perhaps thousands even, of volunteers were on the beach by this time, and out in the water. Some of the whales had been pushed off the shore into deeper water, but were being held their by poor volunteers who were being pounded by waves. Teams with slings and ropes were being organized to help through the night. Already, one whale had died, trapped beneath the others, and a front end loader had dragged the body away up the sand. It was like a final gesture of despair in my heart...... I did not wish to see another one go that direction, yet I knew, that this situation was so fraught with sad outcomes. The lead whale, I went back and said goodbye to him, as I knew I had to get home and into dry warm clothes or I would be ill and certainly doing no one any favours. By this stage he was distressed and I could see it in his body and face. But still he held his head up off the sand, defiantly, bravely, proudly, and I hold that idea with me - that these amazing creatures will be strong and survive and that these equally amazing humans, who were digging deep within to find the same strengths, would help them. My last memory of warmth was in the water beside the whale....somehow, I am still feeling a chill running through me, so I do not know whether I am still feeling the whales and their fear, as I obviously have been for days. Gosh when I think about it, waking up with this huge wall of fear hitting me, it could be likened to a herd of over one hundred huge creatures fleeing this way, with sadness and fear in their hearts. Maybe that is exactly what I have been receiving for the last week, or maybe, these whales are just another portent of something that is yet to come......

I don't even wish to think about that

But now, to the happy ending. And what an outcome! That night on the news, I watched in absolute joy, to see that by sundown, the volunteers had all of the whales off the beach and in water deep enough to swim. Then together, with the help of several fishing boats, they guided or herded them out of the bay. It was necessary to take them way beyond the bay area, as it was such a shallow area and we were told the whales' sonars did not function properly in such shallow water, possibly a reason why they had all come aground. So the whales were headed out into the Indian Ocean, beyond the cape. Over 1500 volunteers hugged each other and cried with joy watching the whales swim away free. Then the stories came back from those on the fishing boats, as they reached the open waters, a pod of dolphins cruised in and joined the whales, mingling with them, swimming with them, then getting out in front and leading them away out to sea, like guardian angels or guides. It was the most amazing end to the day's story.

The following day, we all nervously awaited news reports and information from helicopters scanning the coastline, in case the whales had come back or rebeached themselves elsewhere, which unfortunately seems to happen in all other strandings. But no - there was not a whale to be seen. They were gone, safe, free. It then was heralded as the most successful whale rescue in the world. Over 120 whales beached, and only one died. An autopsy has later shown that this whale was ill, riddled with parasites, and would not have survived very much longer. One did wonder if the others had brought him into the bay, or whether they had followed his misguided lead.

I have so many thoughts about my experience here and what it has shown me. There are times when the only thing to say is - "God! I love this town!"

Besides the fact that I spent time in the water with the whales, my heart simultaneously aching with sorrow at the plight of these beautiful creatures, despairing over what I could do for them, and yet bursting with joy at being so close to them and being honoured enough to have this opportunity to help in some small way, there was one other enormous awareness that came to me.

I looked around me at the people of this region, as they came, from work, from home, from school, stopping whatever they were doing...young people, elderly people and everyone in between, builders, labourers, tradespeople, officeworkers, farmers, parents, grandparents, the demographics were unlimited. I looked at the faces, people all intent on a single goal, all working together with one thought in mind - to save the whales. Whether in the water or on the beach or running back and forth with supplies, hot drinks, etc, I looked with huge pride at the people of this community I call my home.

Do these people know how awesome they are!!! I am sure they all went away from that experience with the same huge rewards that I did, no matter how small or large a part each person played. That is because, this wonderful outcome was achieved by us all, as a group, as a community.

We may never know exactly what causes the whales to bring themselves to land like this, or even risk their lives, but one thing is certain to me - these creatures must surely feel the human response to them, the compassion they evoke in each of us, the love that is generated by working to get them safely back to their own environments... the effects of these encounters between cetacean and human are invisible, but real; unspoken, but enduring. This is something that will last with me long after the aches and pains of that day have gone. I hope that everyone else can feel it too. How blessed and honoured we are!