JOE LAMBERT (age 6 ) IS THE ARTIST.

TAKING CARE OF THE WORLD, THIS IS A STORY ABOUT WHALES......JOE

Introduction - The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

Everywhere the sand is littered with the bodies of pilot whales. Some as big as 8 metres long, fully grown bulls, mothers with calves, and calves alone.

All around you people are rushing from one whale to the next with bio-degradable green and yellow ribbons in their hands . The whales are so still you think at first that they are dead. But someone touches the eye of a whale in front of you. It blinks. ItÆs alive! A green ribbon is gently tied to its tail.

A long, tortuous night follows. The whales marked with green ribbons are singled out from the dead ones and each volunteer is given responsibility for keeping ôtheirö whale alive through the night. You are given a youngster, not much more than a baby. You cover it with a sheet and continually pour sea water over it to stop it from overheating. As the tide slowly comes in, you have to support the fragile creature in your arm to stop it from rolling over and drowning.

As it regains its strength, your whale starts calling. Pitifully, plaintively. On the beach behind, you are painfully aware of a female pilot whale lying near to where your baby was found. SheÆs got a yellow ribbon on her tail and you know that can only mean one thing. Your whale has just become an orphan.

Tanya Jones, a volunteer for Project Jonah - a conservation group in New Zealand - has been in these situations having to make difficult decisions on releasing these baby whales not knowing whether they will be adopted by another female or face a lingering death without their mother. She sends in this report on Project Jonah

PROJECT JONAH - RESCUE REPORT

THE CALL COMES IN

On the night of 8th November , a call was received from the Department of Conservation (DOC) informing Project Jonah that a large group of whales had stranded at Farewell Spit, at the top of the South Island of New Zealand.

It soon became clear that what we had on our hands was a double stranding. Earlier attempts at refloating 25 whales had been unsuccessful. Now our concerns were with the other 200 whales milling around the harbour. It was feared that the distress calls of the stranded whales would call the others in.

Having never attended a stranding at the dreaded Farewell Spit before, my adrenalin was pumping as I envisaged the scene that would be before us.

PROJECT JONAH TO THE RESCUE

Before the sun had risen on the morning of the 9th, we were boarding the early morning flight to Nelson. After a 3 hour drive from Nelson, we arrived at the resue site at Puponga.

After a briefing, we travelled out to the end of the bay with our pontoons in tow. Approximately 3 kilometres off shore were the whales - 47 dead and 45 under the care of DOC and volunteers who had been with them since the night before.

The weather was harsh on the whales, intense sun and blustery winds were drying out the sheets and skin almost as soon as they were wetted down by volunteers with buckets and two fire hoses pumping sea water.

With the help of two excavators, a channel was dug and pontoons placed under the weaker animals to assist the whales to open water. Gradually each whale was helped into the water - some adults as big as 8 metres and babies as small as a meter long.

THEN CAME THE NEWS WE HAD BEEN DREADING

News arrived that the other pod had stranded at Patons Rock directly across the harbour. Tears welled in many eyes as exhausted people faced another 24 hours of rescue attempts.

Also in many minds was the question: æWould the whales we were about to release join the newly stranded pod?Æ

I found it difficult to carry on with the release with such news on my mind, but carry on we all did. As an aid to identifying those about to be released , we tied green biodegradable ribbon around the tail stocks of those still alive. Yellow round those who werenÆt.

With high tide upon us and waves whipped up to a frenzy by the gusty winds, the volunteers said their own good byes to the whales with which they had formed a bond after over 30 hours in their company. The whales milled around for some time, searching for lost members before they finally headed out to sea with an escort of boats to take them safely past the dangerous sand banks.

THERE WAS NO TIME TO LOSE

It was now 5.30pm and no time for despair as we headed towards Patons Rock and the scene of the second stranding.

At 10 pm. exhausted volunteers were sent home and a skeleton crew stayed on through the night with the whales, keeping them upright and wet.

WeÆd managed to catch only a couple of hours of restless sleep, when a call came in at 4.40 am. The tide had advanced with such speed that many of the whales had been pushed back onto their sides and were now faced with drowning, unable to keep their blowholes clear of the incoming tide.

The sight of over 100 whales gasping and floundering all around us left us feeling helpless. But with sheer determination and energy that I didn't know that I possessed, we managed the impossible and with the help of volunteers, before long the whales who had survived the night were upright and waiting to be taken out to sea.

HEARING THE WHALES CALLING AND BLOWING AND ONCE AGAIN FREE, ALMOST BREAKS YOUR HEART

Within the hour the tide had come in sufficiently for most of the whales to be floated. Some of the larger ones were placed in Project Jonah Inflateable Rescue Pontoons to be led out to sea by waiting boats.

DOC asked us to release the whales and a human chain was created between the beach and the whales, who gradually headed out to sea with the assistance of the boats encouraging them in the right direction. It was great to see them finally swimming freely alongside the boats. Gradually they regained their strength and reorganised their social groupings. As the change in the weather brought rough seas, we had to return to shore, leaving the whales to make it out to the open sea.

I must admit, my fingers were tightly crossed behind my back, praying the whales would not become victims yet again of the Spit, hoping the name of it would have some bearing on their destiny - our final farewell!

If you would like to know more about Project Jonah please contact The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Alexander House, James Street West, Bath, Avon BA1 2BT