Saturday 29 May 2010

A mother waits

Last Tuesday a reckless Orca “Killer Whale” diced with death when he entered shallow water and was beached at Ruakaka, my favourite walking beach.  Luckily his presence was quickly reported to the Department of Conservation and the local community.  My friend Chris’ boss, Roger and visiting film-makers Nic and Kirsten were among those who responded to the call for help.  As they battled to get the young chap back to deep water, his mother, Yin and brother, Rua who had responded to his distress calls, waited patienty out in the breakers.

whale1

Ah ah, can I hear you asking how come I am referring to these whales by name?  It happens this young fellow is known to Ingrid Visser, a marine biologist and the first New Zealander to research orcas exclusively.  She has set up the Orca Project Hotline and when whales are spotted in the north she is person who is called and, of course, when the call came she quickly responded.  She recognised young Putita immediately, has known him since he was a kid and had met him up close before when his reckless lifestyle led to him being stranded at Mangawhai, a few miles south of Ruakaka.   She regards the whales are her whanau (family). 

Ingrid said Putita is a great hunter and may have been catching stingrays in the surf when he got into the shallow water and got into strife.


I think the photo below tells the story:
whale2

I have lifted the photos from Roger's Surfline blog where they are credited to  'The Northern Advocate', our local paper.  Thanks Roger, Mike, and the Advocate.

And to think all this happened right there, where we go on to the beach for walks!

5 comments:

  1. Pauline, this is a superb post...........Your best ever? A great story with a happy ending. Thank heaven for the long haired young surfers! Annoying as the young can be they do have their uses.
    Quite fancy number seven but fancy the whale more.
    GREAT!

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  2. Not too sure about getting into the sea with an Orca - especially one known for his hunting prowess.

    A wonderful posting, Pauline. Wasn't it Ruakaka where we went on my first visit to Northland when the surf was unusually non-existent?

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  3. Fantastic pictures and post!
    The Orcas live here too, and we see them regularly all summer long, especially in August and September. Many of them are known by name and any unusual activity gets lots of coverage in the local papers. I wonder if 'our' Orcas ever get over to visit yours.

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  4. a great story with a happy ending. I can only hope to see whales in the wild some day. on my wish list.

    p.s. I have sent you an email. did you get it?

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  5. p.s. got your email. the one you gave me just came back to me for some reason so I have to use the first one.

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