Witsand– A young pilot whale appears to have been successfully returned to the sea after it beached itself at Witsand on the Southern Cape coast, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Sunday.
NSRI Witsand station commander Theo Erasmus said duty crew were activated just before 3pm on Saturday following a request for assistance from the environmental affairs department's oceans and coasts branch reporting a young adult pilot whale beached 200 metres from the Witsand main beach. Local Cape Nature conservation rangers had also been informed of the beaching, he said.
"On arrival on the scene we found members of the public assisting Cape Nature rangers and our NSRI crew assisted to carry the whale into shallow water, but despite numerous attempts to re-float the whale during the low tide the whale continued to strand itself on the beach.
"At [about 3.40pm] the sea rescue craft Breede Rescuer was launched and using a harness the whale was floated into the surf-line where we rafted the whale to our sea rescue craft and gently motored approximately a nautical mile off-shore where the whale was released and the whale appeared to swim off confidently, appearing healthy.
"We are cautiously optimistic that the operation was a success and we commend all who assisted in the operation – members of the public, Cape Nature, and NSRI witsand. The shoreline will continue to be monitored over the next few days to see if the whale beaches again," Erasmus said.