Meet the medics who save the whales
When whales need help, those in the bright orange vests answer their call.
The vests are worn by registered charity Project Jonah’s trained marine mammal medics.
Medics undergo a day-long course in the basics of rescue to give them the confidence and skills to take the right steps at a stranding. There’s refresher courses every two years.
Cameron Sang and Britta Hollmann are Wellington-based medics who dropped everything to help during the recent mass whale strandings at Farewell Spit.
Sang has been a medic for more than eight years but the strandings were only the second time he put his marine rescue training to the test.
‘‘We had over 700 whales stranded over those three days. We rescued about 400 but there were several pods who were coming in, and several super-large pods so it was a lot more complicated, a lot more unpredictable.’’
Hollmann, who became a medic just over a year ago, was on her first rescue call.
She says working alongside so many other people – including those with no training – created a feeling of solidarity.
‘‘They were all awesome. They were very willing to take instruction and guidance and everybody was just there for the common cause, they were just there to help the whales.’’
Sang says people were also helping each other by making and providing food and sharing resources.
‘‘It’s a fairly typical example of community resilience ... as time goes by, people are looking at the community needs and what they can do for the overall situation.’’
It is an emotionally taxing experience, Hollmann says.
‘‘We saved a very high percentage of the animals. On one side you’re elated because you’ve managed to save the certain percentage, but then it’s also very traumatic.
‘‘I think that afterwards it hits you. It’s hard to explain the elation and then the absolute devastation.’’
Sang says the hardest part for the Wellington-based medics was logistics and getting to the site.
He and Hollmann were lucky to have supportive and flexible work arrangements that recognised the importance of them going to help, he says.
The Interislander is a Project Jonah partner, so medics could travel between islands for free.
‘‘It can’t be overstated the dedication of not only the Project Jonah volunteers and medics but there were a lot of people from other organisations, other people who just dropped everything for the animals. It is a huge commitment to do so,’’ Sang says.
Project Jonah relies on volunteers and donations. ‘‘The volunteers are extra passionate about giving things up for the cause, for the whales, dolphins and the like.’’
Whales ‘‘capture people’s imaginations and emotions’’, Sang says.
Hollmann agrees: ‘‘We feel connected somehow.’’
To learn more about Project Jonah or to donate, visit projectjonah.org.nz.
"It's hard to explain the elation and then the absolute devastation." Project Jonah marine mammel medic Britta Hollmann