Featured Image Credit: www.stuff.co.nz
By: Sarah Sharkey
On Marlborough beach, an orca whale recently stranded itself. Luckily for this whale, plenty of people came to help it make its way back into the ocean. Its rescue effort was not just by one or two beachgoers, but dozens of people came to help.
Some of the helpers included 25 soldiers from New Zealand, Canada, America and Australia on a multi-national exercise. The soldiers started digging deep trenches out into the ocean so that the whale could be floated out with a higher tide. Ingrid Visser, a well-known marine biologist came down to the coast to help make this rescue effort a success. The massive 18-foot long whale was floated out at the next high tide, which was the next afternoon. An overnight medic team was able to keep the orca calm and minimally stressed during the long night.
A plane surveyed the area that morning and saw a pod of orcas close to the area of the stranded orca. It is assumed that the whale was able to reunite with his family.
Thankfully this orca had the effort of many caring people behind him. His return to the water was quite the cause for celebration. Which oceanic creature are you most thankful for this season?
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