The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
We can do better than this: Call for action after whale dies under a baking sun on Ventry beach
VOLUNTEERS who tried without success to refloat a beached whale on Ventry strand at the weekend could only watch in frustration as it died a slow and painful death because there are no procedures to make it possible for large animals to be put down when they have no chance of surviving.
A local man spotted the 5.5m minke whale stranded on the beach at Caheratrant just as the high tide turned at 10.30am on Saturday. He alerted local members of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) and volunteers gathered at the scene soon afterwards, struggling against the falling tide to push the whale back out to sea. Their efforts were unsuccessful and for the remainder of the exceptionally hot and sunny day volunteers stayed with the whale, covering it with blankets and dousing it with buckets of cooling water in an effort to keep it calm and as comfortable as possible.
At the evening high tide another attempt was made to get the whale back to sea but each time it was re-floated it swam back to shore and eventually the volunteers had to give up.
Although the whale was in apparently poor physical condition even before becoming stranded, it was still alive on Sunday morning when further efforts were made to re-float it, but again without success. With all hope lost of returning the animal to the sea, the only humane option that remained was to put it down. However, in Ireland there is no protocol among State agencies for dealing with a situation of this sort and so the whale was left to die slowly on the beach while distressed volunteers could only douse it with buckets of water to ease its agony.
Marine life expert Kevin Flannery, who was at the scene on Sunday, commended the efforts of the IDWG members and volunteers for their efforts but said it was shocking and unacceptable that no statutory body was willing or able to take responsibility for saving the whale from an agonising death.
“That such a thing could happen in this day and age is disgraceful. If it was a horse left to die on the side of the road there would be uproar. Yet this whale was left dying for 36 hours in the baking heat and there was no agency to take responsibility for doing the right thing,” he said.
“Somebody needs to put a protocol in place between statutory bodies, such as Kerry County Council, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine to deal with situations like this. You can’t leave an animal like that to die for 36 hours under a baking sun. The welfare of the animal is not being taken care of by agencies,” he added.
Kevin said the county council is responsible for what happens above the mean high water mark on the coast, the Dept of Agriculture Food and the Marine is responsible for anything below that, the National Parks and Wildlife Service is responsible for mammals – “and the problem is that nobody takes responsibility when a situation like this happens… Most of them can’t even be contacted outside of office hours”.
“What we have to resolve is what agency is responsible. A protocol has to be put in place. Leaving a whale to die on a beach over the two warmest days of the year is not acceptable. There were even children looking at this appalling scene. It made me angry to see it,” he said.
Local IWDG member Nick Massett, who was at the scene in Ventry on Saturday and Sunday, said the IWDG has been pushing for the implementation of a protocol to deal with whale strandings. “It’s not fair to leave local volunteers with the responsibility for dealing with very difficult and distressing situations like this,” he said.
A spokesperson for Kerry County Council told The Kerryman that the council “does not have any role in the treatment or refloating of whales. Any such policies relating to this would likely be drafted by national agencies, and the Council would engage with them in this regard.”