Community pools together for whale rescue

One wounded whale, 300 people and a seven-hour rescue mission at Ohiwa Harbour. Daily Post reporter Katee Shanks was there.

Stephanie Taukiri initially thought the stranded whale had been shot or knifed as it lay on the shores of Ohiwa Harbour.

As it lay immovable in the mud, she could see "nasty" wounds on the 4.8m minke and was shocked to think someone may have attacked it.

It is likely the minke was attacked. But Department of Conservation staff believe an orca - not a human - could have been responsible for the wounds.

Soon after Mrs Taukiri and Catherine Campbell spotted the whale, a seven-hour rescue mission involving about 300 people began.

The pair were the first to alert authorities to the stranded minke.

"I could see the whale was quite stressed and put my hand on its head and had a bit of a chat to it," Mrs Taukiri said. "That was until it flicked its tail and I jumped out of the way.

"That was probably the quickest I had moved all morning," she told the Daily Post.

"It had some nasty wounds and I initially thought someone had either shot or cut it with a knife as it lay in the sand."

The Eastern Bay of Plenty community rallied in numbers shortly after news of the stranded whale was broadcast on local radio. People arrived carrying buckets and spades.

By 8am about 300 people were at Ohiwa Harbour and a pool had been dug around the whale, volunteers pouring water on to the tarpaulin-covered mammal.

Two lines of people stretched to the water's edge as buckets were passed down the line and the water tipped over and around the whale.

The plight of the stranded whale didn't hold everyone's attention. Youngsters excited about a morning off school were soon playing on the beach, some seemingly disappointed it wasn't more like a scene from Whale Rider in which a number of whales were stranded on a beach.

Matthew Craig and Lucas Everitt from Ohope Beach Primary School said most of their classmates and teachers were helping the whale.

"Lucky most of the kids are here, otherwise I don't think there would be enough teachers at school," Matthew said.

Assistant harbourmaster John Wharehoka, who has been involved in many whale strandings throughout the country, said the minke appeared quite calm.

"Its reflexes are good and the eyes are bright. It's more likely than not that it ran in here [the harbour] suffering from the wounds it had sustained."

He guessed the whale would have sought shallow water to rest in and had been caught by the outgoing tide.

"The tide zips out of here at about 7 knots and it is really easy to get stranded."

An excavator dug a 3.5m wide and 40m long trench that quickly filled with water while wetsuit-clad volunteers and conservation department staff rocked the whale to get an inflated pontoon underneath.

As the water reached the same level as the pool around the whale, it was turned and heaved toward the estuary channel.

A huge cheer went up from the 300-strong crowd as the minke began to swim and an elderly Maori man - just like a scene from Whale Rider - made a deep-throated call to the whale as it headed back out to sea..

The minke whale was accompanied by Department of Conservation staff and volunteers for about 3km out to open water and did everything it was supposed to do, field officer Matt Cook said.

"We had about 20 vessels with us at the end and, once we got the whale through the breakers, a huge cheer went up."

Boats, jet skis and kayaks accompanied the whale until it reached deep waters.

At 1.30pm, the whale swam away, to the cheers of its rescuers.

"I have to comment on the Eastern Bay community who turned up in droves to help out - it was tremendous," Mr Cook said.

"Hopefully the whale will not come back."