Featured Image Credit:Mirror.Co.UK
By Alice Morris
Dave Butterton and Ben Rogers expected a day of surf and sand when they headed out to the Severn bore in Gloucester, England.
They definitely didn’t expect to make a heroic journey of over 130 miles to save a very lucky cetacean.
Butterton and Rogers were paddling out to catch their next wave when they heard a strange sound coming from a nearby sandbank.
The pair investigated the sound only to find a porpoise that had become stranded during a recent low tide.
Butterton published a Facebook post that detailed their long adventure to save the porpoise:
“Okay so last night was pretty crazy. Drove from Ilfracombe to Gloucestershire, surfed the bore at one spot, paddling down to the next spot myself and Ben Rogers heard a strange noise coming from the sandbank. On investigation it was a stranded porpoise!”
“We thought about just releasing her back into the channel, but it is pretty inevitable that she would get stranded on the next low tide and the next until exhausted she would have passed away.”
Instead, the duo set about rescuing the porpoise. Hoisting it up onto a surfboard, they carried the animal off the bank, loaded it into the back of their Vauxhall Zafira and drove 130 miles towards Ilfracombe to set it free in the Bristol Channel, the closest open water drop-off point.
To ensure the comfort of the animal, Butterton and Rogers wrapped the porpoise in sheets and damp towels and stopped several times on their journey for ‘watering stops’ to keep the porpoise damp.
After their long trip, the pair was glad to observe the porpoise swim vigorously away when placed back in the ocean, a hopeful indication of the animal’s good health.
In general, the best thing to do if you encounter a stranded animal is to contact trained wildlife professionals who know how to maximize the chances of the animal’s survival.
As demonstrated in this case though, desperate times call for desperate measures. “More dead porpoises are found in Gloucestershire than live ones,” Butterton mentioned in his Facebook post.
Luckily for this porpoise, there were a couple of caring individuals looking out for it.
“I was half expecting a Free Willy style leap into the moonlight as a farewell but never mind,” said Butterton.
We’re sure the porpoise appreciated the gesture nonetheless! Check out the original coverage from the Mirror.