1/5/2006: Beached whale removal, New Zealand

I really don't know what it is with IotD and whales, but here's yet another whale feature.

This is part of a massive whale beaching in New Zealand. IotD has covered New Zealand whale beaching before - in this case, 120 pilot whales beaches themselves, and conservationists saved most of them, but these few didn't and they have to be managed somehow. Even if it's sad, it's also interesting to see what they have to do, getting heavy equipment out and lining them up for removal.

Maybe Greenpeace could market them to the Japanese?

barefoot serpent wrote:

Maybe Greenpeace could market them to the Japanese?

I think they're already on it..
The japanese working in his Hitachi crane and the Greenpeace guy have an eye on the remaining plantlife. :D

I suppose that blowing them up with dynamite is right out?

120 beached themselves at the same time.

smacks of ritual sacrifice. what color kool aid do you think they like? are we gods to them? we take them brutally and randomly in ways they don;t understand. look at it through the whale's eyes. they're smart enough to identify us by sight. did these 120 whales think to save others with their sacrifice? very noble ani...... i was gonna say animals........but....

more along those lines:

we threw back 114 of them. will they be seen as unworthy and shunned by the pod? will the six that did not return be remebred with glory and admiration?

this is freakin me out, man.

Martyrs?

lumberjim wrote:

this is freakin me out, man.

Please reduce the THC levels in your blood to managable levels.

Griff wrote:

Please reduce the THC levels in your blood to managable levels.

i'm still at work, dad.

you don;t think whales are smart enough to get religion?


have you MET george Bush?!

It's the whale's equivalent of people drowning. :smack:

Elspode wrote:

I suppose that blowing them up with dynamite is right out?

:lol:

They're too small, I think.

Really awesome video of an attempt to blow up a beached whale with dynamite:

http://www.dogpatchgazette.com/humor/movies/whale.avi

i've seen that video, well worth it to watch.

One reason for the beachings, don't know if it apples to this one, is the underwater sonar that the Navy is using to communicate with. Imagine listening to an earsplitting car alarm all the time. They think that beachings have gone way up because the whales can't stand it.

Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.
:fish:

Karenv wrote:

One reason for the beachings, don't know if it apples to this one, is the underwater sonar that the Navy is using to communicate with. Imagine listening to an earsplitting car alarm all the time. They think that beachings have gone way up because the whales can't stand it.

They've put a limit on the areas they can use that. IIRC, mostly around Korea/Japan/China. :confused:

Think of it as the oceanic equivalent of a roadkill eating club. If they can get to them fast enough, it's dinner, not garbage.

I want to see another vehicle bringing a giant oval can with a key to put these guys in.

:lol2:

Why is the Navy killing whales? http://www.savebiogems.org/whales/

Because they keep getting sucked into the propulsion intakes of the nuclear submarines.

[COLOR=White]
Note to everybody except karen. I am fully aware that this is not how a nuclear sub runs. The following is solely for humor value:[/COLOR]


You think it's hard to clean the eagles out of the jet engines? Piece of cake compared to scraping blubber out of a nuclear powered steam turbine.

By now, I'm sure many of you have heard of the whale seen in London today.

Just a matter of time before it beaches itself in the muddy riverbanks.

wolf wrote:

Because they keep getting sucked into the propulsion intakes of the nuclear submarines.

[COLOR=White]
Note to everybody except karen. I am fully aware that this is not how a nuclear sub runs. The following is solely for humor value:[/COLOR]



You think it's hard to clean the eagles out of the jet engines? Piece of cake compared to scraping blubber out of a nuclear powered steam turbine.

No, it doesn't. It's the sonar. Like living next door to a train station that has no downtime where all the trains have to sound their horns constantly.

Whale: "I'm not leaving till you make me a Prince"

Here's a link to show just how bad these are getting
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article340250.ece

ok, somehow I got the feeling that Bob Schieffer was linking the fact that the Russians are p.o'd at the Brits for the whole Spy Rock thing and actually may have used this poor whale as a counter spy! I did not, however, see any laser beam attached to it's head. Poor thing. Anyway, did anyone else watch CBS news last night and come up with this?

Any word on the effect of sonar on whale penis? That's really all I'm concerned about.

Due to your own ginormous whale-like penis? :lol:
Hey, I'd be concerned, too, if I were you.

Karenv wrote:

Why is the Navy killing whales? http://www.savebiogems.org/whales/

Hey, this is a small price to pay, remember we are in a war against terror! Besides, W's daddy has probably hit a few while speeding around Kennybunkport. :reaper:

indigo_girl wrote:

Here's a link to show just how bad these are getting
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article340250.ece

Secret sonar from naval ships is killing thousands of whales around the world and could have disoriented the two-ton mammal that died last night after becoming stranded in the Thames, an investigation by The Independent on Sunday has established.

Welcome to the Cellar, indigo_girl. :)
Thanks for the link, but as you can see (read) it's nothing but wild assed speculation.