Nearly 200 Whales Stranded on New Zealand Beach
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150213-pilot-whales-stranded-new-zealand/
SUMMARY
After finding the article on Rhino Poaching at National Geographic, I decided to follow the animal theme for my current issues in the environment posts. I find the life of a creature as more of a pull on my heartstrings than any other environmental issue we have previously talked about. As I was scrolling through the website, the alarming statistic (which happens to be the article title) that nearly 200 whales stranded on New Zealand’s beach to be unavoidable. As I clicked the article, it happened to be by the same author, Brian Clark Howard, who already gained credibility in my mind with his last post. On February 13, rescuers and volunteers had to scramble to save nearly 200 pilot whales that were stranded on New Zealand’s South Island. At the end of the process at least two-dozen whales did not survive and more than 80 people came to help the effort. This spot in the northwest corner of the island is treacherous for the pilot whales because the waters are so shallow that it is confusing to navigate. These whales are at a bigger risk for this disaster because they are highly social whales that live and travel in their family groups or pods at all times. According to Trevor Spradlin, a marine mammal biologist, “scientists believe that a pod typically gets stranded after one animal gets stuck.”
ANALYSIS
Since these are extremely large animals, almost as large is orcas, they are extremely hard to maneuver. Can you imagine trying to move an animal that spans up to 21 feet in length and sits at up to 7,050 pounds? The stress that came with the disaster was not only the size of the animals for rescuers; however, it was the time crunch that they were on. Since pilot whales are designed to live in water, on land their organs begin to crush because they are not used to, or designed to have that much weight on them. The first thing that came to mind was the how? When it comes to doing so the techniques depend on where and what they have. At this island they had heavy movers, slings, and cranes to move the large whales. The volunteers did everything they could to keep the mammals cool and wet as long as possible, to buy time. Unfortunately, if the animal cannot be pushed back to sea in time the rescuers then have to put them down as fast as possible to avoid a slow and painful death. As hard as it is to read, they do this by process of explosive charges or letting the animals bleed out by cutting a major artery.
OPINION RESPONSE
Even though this article is not necessarily arguing the reader to action, I still think it is still a powerful form of rhetoric towards being aware of the issues. I believe that the New Zealand’s Department of Conservation is doing everything they can to help these whales and the article is effective at proving this to the reader. This article would serve as a great tool for anyone who is skeptical at how many workers the Department of Conservation calls for in a disastrous situation. It would also be effective if anyone were concerned with how much money is being put into the program. After reading the article, I am sure that anyone would be in full support of the efforts to save these poor creatures. No one can argue against that this is a horrible situation and tragic for the whales who do not survive. I found it very interesting to learn about the pilot whales and their tendencies to stick together regardless of the danger presented. I believe that if humans took this standpoint more often a lot of issues would be resolved relationally as well. I really respect even if the volunteers are not able to save these poor creatures, they at least make death as painless as possible. It would be really easy for the department to simply leave the whales to just die on their own, and the fact that they go the extra mile to make sure it is quick really stands out to me.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/15/asia/new-zealand-beached-whales/index.html –> CNN article about the whale incident in New Zealand (video included)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131205-rescue-stranded-whales-everglades-marine-mammals-science/ –> How Pilot Whales were rescued in the Everglades
Crimes Against Nature 