On Friday 12 July, not even 24 hours after the mass stranding in Orkney, BDMLR were alerted to a minke whale that had got into difficulty off the coast of Broadford in the Isle of Skye. Kayakers had found the whale was still in the water but seemingly stuck, and as the tide retreated, it left her stranded on the sand and rocks.
As we rallied our Medics together to attend, the kayakers fed back updates to Head Office. The whale was becoming increasingly stressed as the water around her receded and she began to thrash violently. She continued to thrash so much that she ended up on her side showing her underside, meaning we were able to determine her female from photos. It was far too dangerous for anyone to approach safely as a whale’s tail fluke is incredibly powerful, so we had to hold off beginning any hands-on first aid until the whale calmed down. Her breathing rate was sky high as a result of the stress. The kayakers estimated the minke to be between 4 and 5 metres long, meaning she could possibly still be reliant on her mother as minke whales wean at around 4.5m long. However, without being able to get close enough to get an accurate body length, we had to consider all of our options.
BDMLR Medics, with the help of the Coastguard and the RNLI, arrived at the scene by boat by which time the whale was still thrashing but much less (likely as a result of exhaustion) but she was still too dangerous to approach. By this point she was also bleeding from wounds she had obtained from scraping against rocks. As she began to tire further, our Medics were able to get closer to her to measure her properly with a tape measure. She was determined to be of weaning length, and apart from her superficial stranding wounds, she was in reasonable condition. Our Head Vet Consultant decided we could trial refloating her on the incoming tide as long as her breathing rate reduced. Our Medics placed the pontoon mat underneath her and rolled her onto it to upright her and began to pour water over her to prevent her from drying out. This calmed her breathing right down from 14 breaths per minute to just 4, so we hoped that this meant she was heading in the right direction. However, shortly after this she took her final breath and sadly passed away.
As SMASS had their hands full with the aftermath of the mass stranding of 77 pilot whales, there wasn’t enough time for a full post-mortem examination. However, their volunteers were still able to collect some samples which will hopefully give us some insight of the whale’s overall health and may give some indication of the initial cause of the stranding.
We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone involved in this difficult rescue, including the kayakers who found her, the local Coastguard for support, the RNLI for the use of their boat and transport to the site, and of course our Marine Mammal Medics who attended and ensured that the whale was kept comfortable in her last moments of life.
Katie Tunn, Declan Friel
