No happy ending at Whatuwhiwhi

A valiant effort to save a minke whale found on Whatuwhiwhi's Patea Beach on Thursday morning was unsuccessful.

The whale was placed on a pontoon late on Thursday afternoon, with considerable difficulty, and was held there for some 90 minutes so it could get its bearings. It was then towed into deeper water by Peter Wright's charter fishing boat Snapa Slapa, but as soon as it was released it headed directly back to the beach.

It was finally shot by a Department of Conservation ranger at 1am on Friday.

The whale was found aground in the shallows around 8am on Thursday, but was likely to have got into difficulties the night before.

Mel Windlebourne and Ray Geddye were there by 8am, covering the animal with sheets and carrying countless buckets of water from the receding sea to keep it wet.

Reinforcements arrived as the morning wore on and a small crowd gathered to watch, although from the start there was no prospect of attempting to return it to the water until at least mid-afternoon, as the tide rose.

The whale was believed to be a juvenile (although at 8.7 metres it was not far short of the accepted average adult size for the minke, the smallest of the great whales). It appeared to be in good condition, showing no signs of trauma such as injuries that might have been caused by a collision with a boat, the only signs of damage being wounds left by cookie cutter sharks.

It was breathing steadily, its eyes were open and it showed no signs of distress, all of which were taken by a marine mammal expert at Massey University as encouraging signs, although she had told DOC that minke whales were not as robust as the more commonly found pilot whales, and were less likely to survive.

The difficult job of getting a pontoon underneath the whale began mid-afternoon, when the water was deep enough to give the animal some small degree of buoyancy. It took some doing, however, and even then the rescuers were facing the best part of two more hours in cold water and a chill wind.

"The whale was taken out into deeper water and held there, in the pontoon, for about an hour and a half while it got its bearings," DOC's acting Kaitaia area manager Carolyn Smith said.

"Then it was towed out into deeper water, but as soon as the pontoon was removed it headed straight back to the beach. By then it was dark and freezing cold, impossible to carry on."

Everyone was welcomed to the nearby marae at that point, where they were given a meal and the situation was assessed.

"Eventually it was agreed that we had no choice but to euthanase it," Ms Smith said.

"A DOC ranger who's trained in euthanasing whales came up from Whangarei, and it was shot at about 1am."

Ms Smith had nothing but praise for the efforts of Ngati Kahu and others to save the whale.

"They were just awesome," she said.

"Everyone worked together in difficult conditions, and stuck at it for as long as there was any hope of succeeding.

"It was a shame that it could not be returned to the water but it was important to try. Most people find a whale stranding to be a very emotional experience, and for many an event like this is a rare opportunity to connect with the natural environment."

Strandings, often involving pilot whales, were not uncommon in the Far North, she added, but they were rare at Whatuwhiwhi, and this was the first time anyone had encountered a minke, although they were found in waters all over the world, from the poles to the tropics.