Last Saturday, virtually on the doorstep of The Long Beach, a drama unfolded in the early hours of the morning when a pod of Pilot Whales beached themselves on Kommetjie beach.

Hundreds of people flocked to try and push the 4 – 6metre long whales back into the water, clad in wetsuits to fight off the stormy weather and chilly ocean, they spent hours keeping the whales wet and trying to drag them back out to sea. The NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute) even brought out front end loaders to aid volunteers in trying to push the whales back into deeper waters but tragically these docile mammals just kept on swimming back to shore.

By the afternoon a total of 55 Pilot Whales had beached themselves, 20 were successfully dragged back out to sea but with the strong winds and big surf the other 35 were still stranded. Emotional onlookers and rescue workers were still trying their best to keep the distressed, suffering whales alive but the decision was finally made to euthanize those animals still left on the beach.

There are a number of theories as to why whole pods beach themselves, this is the first time this kind of thing has happened in the Cape which offers some of the best whale watching spots in the world. I think many people were left dazed at the fact that there was just nothing they could do, and we hope that this kind of event doesn’t occur again any time soon.