Monday 29th October to Friday 2nd November – Just when you think life is getting routine

Monday 29^th October – bird rescue.

Penguin progress – baby is losing its baby fluff (see video). It's growing well but they are trying to minimise the handling – as you can see from the video it is already starting to associate humans with food which isn't good for its long-term survival.

Tuesday 30^th October 

My day off this week. I have been given loads of equipment by the SPCA to try to set myself up so that I can work from home.  This will be both good and bad. Big pluses – not having to battle through up to an hour and a half’s traffic both IN and OUT of Mangere or having to pay for the petrol for the privilege. Having a lie-in. Being able to do stuff round the house when there aren’t any calls coming in.
Negatives – being able to cover lates between 5-9pm and being more available for last-minute cover. Lone working – missing out on the banter and snacks available at the office!

So, putting my best technical hat on, I tried to set up the technology as best I could.  Hmmm, need a proper desk methinks...

The next hurdle was to try and get the phone working via the internet by speaking to Scott at the SPCA IT desk. Easier said than done with shoddy phone reception coverage! It turns out I’m going to need an extra adapter to connect to the wireless internet or something so it' back to the drawing board... and a drive into the office this week.

Wednesday 31^st October – Hunua

Back at Piggotts this week for some track maintenance. I definitely enjoy working here more than at habitat. I always see and hear more wildlife.  After the steep climb up Ernie’s track to the lookout (below), my ‘team’ headed off down Wrigley, which is a very pretty trail.   

I saw some interesting fungi and mosses before managing to track down a Kaka. It swooped into the undergrowth near me and I managed to grab some video footage, albeit it was still obscured by some undergrowth. 

Classed as endangered, this parrot is a close relative of the Kea seen in the Southland Mountains. I seem to be seeing and hearing them more frequently recently which is heartening.  Hopefully they are busy looking after a brood in a hollow tree nearby.

My first hot hangi...

Thursday 1^st November – SPCA

Nothing relating to animal welfare, but I thought it would be remiss not to mention a new culinary experience I had today - The Hot Hangi! Traditionally cooked underground in a pit, it consists of meat or fish with vegetables that are slow-cooked on hot stones for 3-4 hours. Hangi literally translates as ‘earth oven’ from Maori.  

Today’s version came from a butchers in Mangere Bridge. I’m not sure how authentic that is, but we shared a couple between the four of us in the office for lunch (right). There didn’t seem much flavour to it so we added salt which improved the taste to some extent, but I wasn’t left craving more if I’m honest.  It sounded so promising!

Friday 2^nd November – My Second Whale Stranding experience

The day started as expected. We were busy at the SPCA contact centre. Then I got my first text through from Project Jonah – a suspected stranded dolphin at Port Waikato, roughly 40 minutes from Pukekohe. Could I attend and report back?  Sadly not. There were only three of us on and we were very busy. However, things calmed down and when late turn came on at 1230pm I requested an early finish to go and investigate.

By the time I had popped in at home to grab my equipment and have a bite to eat, I made it over to Port Waikato around 230pm. I had been given further details by the PJ office – the patient initially thought to be a dolphin was in fact a rare deep-sea dwelling Southern Bottlenose Whale – you will see the similarities from my photos. 

New Zealand is the very northerly point of its distribution and it usually resides in water more than 200 metres deep around the Antarctic. This individual appeared to have numerous marks on its body and did not seem very healthy so I was pre-warned not to get my hopes up.  Arriving at the sand dunes in Maraetai Bay I expected to meet with the same media circus that I had experienced in the northland earlier in the year. Instead I found…… no one! Not even a single vehicle. I climbed to the top of a dune to find my way, struggling like I was in the opening credits of Monty Python.  I gave up and rang the office back, getting re-directed to the lifesaving club where I was met by a local, Colin, on his golf buggy who gave me a lift along the black volcanic sands to the remote tip of the peninsula where the ocean meets the mouth of the Waikato River.  And there I found a small cluster of DOC rangers, members of public and one other PJ volunteer.  The hard work of caring for the while whilst it was ‘high and dry’ had been done and now the water was reaching it, with everyone working to keep the whale as comfortable as possible in an upright position facing towards the sea:

First views of the rare Southern bottlenose whale

Lots of marks on the whale's head and an encrusted injury over its left eye, just above the waterline here

High tide was estimated for 430pm so that would be the best opportunity to get the ‘strandee’ re-floated if it was well enough.  

Straight away I could see numerous marks and injuries on the body of the whale and its left eye was encrusted with an injury above it. 

A couple of other battle scars on the whale's side

It looked like it had been in the wars.  I got hands-on to relieve some of those who had been supporting the whale for some time. A couple of local lads were battling on in shorts and t-shirts despite shivering uncontrollably so we had to send them away before hypothermia set in! I was thankful for my thick full-length wetsuit. This would be a good test for it.

Keeping the whale upright was much easier said than done, especially as the waves were being inconsiderate in coming from all different directions rather than just the one!  The difference in the volume of the waves meant that they either made little difference to the depth of water around the whale or they were so powerful that our legs were being swept out from underneath us and we lost control of our patient, sending her off in a spin. Not ideal.  As I arrived they were just attempting to use a sling belonging to DOC to cradle the whale in an attempt to carry her into deeper waters but this had been found to be too small and the idea had been abandoned. The whale was roughly 10 feet long and incredibly heavy. With the force of the water behind it, we had to get ourselves out of the way pretty quickly when we were unable to hold her. And that was even with eight of us trying to hold on.  There was one occasion when the water nearly got deep enough to fully float the whale and she was able to use the impressive force of her tail to try to get free. But once the water subsided she was back on sand and it was back to square one.  This turned out to be the only real opportunity of the day.

My main concern was what would be best for the whale.  From this and my other stranding experience, it seems the natural human reaction to a stranding is that the animal should be shoved back into the water ASAP by whatever means and without considering the condition of the whale. Clearly, PJ and most definitely me, think differently to this! Public bystanders are full of ideas like tying rope around its tail and rolling it down into deeper water – both practises definitely a no-no in the experts’ eyes. They don’t seem to want to consider either the distress that would cause to the animal or even if heading back into deeper water would be in the best interests of the whale. Out of sight, out of mind, we’ve moved it off the beach, job done – seems to be the order of the day.  During the only break I had in the afternoon a member of public approached me to ask why, as a representative of Project Jonah, I hadn’t brought a pontoon with me. I tried explaining that I was a volunteer who had just headed out from home with a wetsuit and a towel (never forget your towel) to help as best I could and sorry but no, I don’t have a personal issue ‘one-size-fits-all’ whale pontoon! 

I asked one of the DOC rangers if a vet was coming out to assess the whale. They are the ones in charge at a stranding such as this after all.  It seemed like discussions in the background away from the beach had concluded that the best course of action would be to euthanise the whale.  Looking at her injuries and demeanour by this stage I probably had to agree. All we could do was keep trying to keep her as comfortable as possible in the circumstances and offer her the chance to re-float if she had the strength. As the sun started to dip, along with the temperature, the group of bystanders slowly ebbed away until there was just me and four DOC rangers left tending to the stricken animal.  In a complete change of character, suddenly the whale became distressed and pounded her tail into the sand, moving around more than she had all day.  Afterwards her breathing became shallow and she was almost panting. A short while later I noticed the breathing had stopped. So had the movement. I checked for any signs of life by touching her eye gently with my gloved hand. Nothing. ‘Guys, I think she’s gone’ I said.  We all gradually resigned ourselves to the fact that the whale had literally just passed away in front of us. The sudden change in behaviour we’d witnessed had been its last gasp efforts to free itself.  It was emotional. A couple of the rangers and I shed a tear in respect. What a privilege to have got this close to such an incredible animal.  There had been nothing more anyone could have done.  We slowly moved away to re-group and get a warm drink.   

A sad end for this rare marine mammal - you can see the shape of the beak and head is very 'dolphinesque'

Look at the tiny pectoral fins ... and all those marks

What a stunning pattern on the underside of the whale's tail fluke

I updated Project Jonah about what had happened. The ranger who had been due to euthanise the whale finally turned up and we moved our thoughts on to obtaining as much data as possible from this unexpected interaction with such a rare creature.  


I got involved to learn as much as possible, helping out where I could as we measured and photographed all aspects of the whale and they took a small section of her tail for a biopsy. Maybe the answers to why this whale had beached could be discovered? 

My final view back to the whale before we made our way off the beach

I didn’t fancy trekking all the way along kilometres of soft sand to my car in my wetsuit after a long afternoon on the beach and, thankfully, I didn’t have to. All other vehicles had disappeared but DOC managed to squeeze me into one of their trucks to give me a lift back to the surf rescue club as the light started to fade.  DOC will have to return tomorrow to arrange for the carcass of the whale to be buried or disposed of suitably.  It was nearly 8pm by the time I got into my car.  I was thoroughly looking forward to the hot shower and dry clothes that awaited me at home.

It seems that a positive outcome to any stranding is the exception rather than the rule. Maybe it will be third time lucky?!