THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503260046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Two beached pilot whales played out a life-and-death struggle on Outer Banks beaches Friday morning.
One of the mammals caught a wave to freedom. The other was not so lucky.
A 12-foot female pilot whale washed ashore at about 6 a.m. on the beach near the Mariner Motel at milepost 7.5 at 3rd Street in Kill Devil Hills.
A 14-foot male pilot whale washed ashore near the Nags Head Fishing Pier at about 7:30 a.m. He was able to work his way into deep water, and was last seen Friday afternoon swimming against the current near the Kitty Hawk Pier.
Personnel from the North Carolina Aquarium, the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department, and the Kill Devil Hills Public Works Department worked for almost seven hours to get the female beast back into deep water.
Firefighters used a water line to try to create a channel of water deep enough for the animal to swim through the waves.
But the mammal was apparently too weak to swim, and was put to sleep at 1 p.m. by veterinarians Mark Grossman and Mary Burkart.
The vets sent organ and tissue samples to a National Marine Sciences lab in Maryland, where biologists will attempt to discover what caused the whale's death. Kill Devil Hills public works personnel later buried the mammal in the sand.
A partial examination of the female whale showed that it had not eaten in several days, said Rhett White, director of the North Carolina Aquarium on nearby Roanoke Island .
``There were no external injuries at all,'' White said of the female whale. ``She had nothing in her stomach. And there was nothing other than bile in her intestines. That strongly indicates that she was sick. It's unusual for a healthy mammal of that size to go that long without eating.''
As for the surviving male, White said, the animal was freed from the beach by a strong wave that accompanied rising mid-morning tides.
``He just got lifted up on a crashing wave as the tide was going up,'' White said. ``He struggled. But the last time we saw him he was heading north, swimming near the Kitty Hawk Pier.''
Pilot whales are considered largely social creatures since they travel in large groups, called pods. Although no one knows why they beach themselves, White said, when the animals come ashore, they usually do so in pods. The mammals now are migrating north as ocean waters warm with the coming of spring. As long as there is an adequate food supply, White said, the mammals should be all right.
``Usually, when you have one or two whales that wash up on the beach, it's due to some type of illness or injury,'' he said.
Including Friday's beachings, 19 mammals of various species have washed ashore between Cape Hatteras and the Virginia line this year - including humpback whales and bottlenose, striped and saddleback dolphins.
``We usually see 20 or 30 a year,'' White said. ``We've seen a few more so far for this time of year. But it's nothing unusual.''
Rescue personnel experienced jubilation and despair in their efforts to free the whales that washed ashore Friday.
``Our folks were real disappointed,'' said Kill Devil Hills Fire Chief Doug Penland. ``We tried as hard as we could to save it.''
The crew members who were on hand when the male was freed were overjoyed, White said.
``As you can imagine, they were very happy,'' he said.
Last year, rescue personnel on Pea Island freed a humpback whale from a gill net. They named it ``Free Willy.'' The mammal freed Friday in Nags Head swam, a whale with no name, toward Kitty Hawk.
``They didn't give him a name,'' White said. ``If you do that, it's easy to get emotionally attached.''
KEYWORDS: WHALE by CNB