(Disclaimer: La Tonique Media LLC does not represent any political ideology. While we do not espouse any political beliefs, we do seek to provide a balance perspective by incorporating voices from both sides of the political spectrum.)

By JTTC

On November 3rd, over 100 short-finned Pilot whales became beached near Panadura, located on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Beaching, otherwise known as Cetacean stranding typically refers to large aquatic mammals, specifically whales, and dolphins, stranding themselves on land, typically on sandy beaches. This beaching can frequently lead to the death of the animal as they become dehydrated, exhausted, crushed under their own weight, or drown if the tide covers their blowhole.

There are various reasons why whales and similar animals beach themselves. When individual animals beach themselves it is usually a result of sickness or injury. Sometimes other factors like age, weather, hunting close to shore, or even just a navigational mistake can also cause a whale to beach. There has also been increasing concern over the use of sonar by humans and its effects on the ability of whales to navigate. Certain animals like orcas have been observed purposely beaching themselves to catch prey like sea lions.  

Unfortunately, these Pilot whales are not a species that intentionally beaches themselves in pursuit of prey. Short-finned Pilot whales are a highly sociable species that live their lives in complex but stable social structures. This represents itself in the form of pods typically numbering somewhere between 25-50 individuals, some groups can number over 100. Unfortunately, this sociability can cause mass beaching. According to the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida if one of the whales from a pod gets into trouble it will issue distress calls to the rest of the pod. These calls can lead to other members of the pod attempting to rescue the beached member, only to become beached themselves.

Earlier in September of 2020, some 500 Pilot whales had beached themselves near the coast of the Australian state of Tasmania. Despite the efforts of rescuers hundreds of these whales ended up perishing. On Monday, a similar catastrophe seemed to be in the making with over 100 pilot whales becoming beached near Panadura. Thankfully, the swift action of the Sri Lankan government and local residents helped to avoid this bleak outcome.

Knowing that time was of the essence rescuers were swift to act. Local residents defied a local COVID-19 curfew to assist the Sri Lankan navy and coast guard with the rescue. As some rescuers helped take care of the animals while others worked on returning the whales to the ocean. A local water sports club even provided jet skis to assist in pulling the whales to the safety of deeper waters. The rescue went on through the night and by morning was largely a success with only 4 animals perishing as a result of the beaching. The other roughly 120 whales managed to be rescued and were able to return to the ocean.

Swift and compassionate action by the government and local residents of Sri Lanka managed to save a vast group of animals that would have more than likely perished. Acts of compassion like this play out over the world every day. They may not receive the same kind of media attention as tragedies but that doesn’t make them any less important. Fundamentally humanity in general is good, even if some of its members are not a part of that majority.

JTTC is a political writer for La Tonique.