Attempted Whale Rescue

 

In 2017, during my travel and wildlife photography internship in Mossel Bay, South Africa, I got to experience something I never imagined. What started as a normal day of lessons and practice shooting quickly turned into one of action. We had gotten word that a young humpback whale had beached itself. So the team hopped in the van and drove over to capture the attempted rescue. The urgency in the air was palatable - it was past mid-day and as the hours continued to pass, the tide began to receed. The hours spent watching the rescue team try again and again to refloat the whale were extremely sobering, heartbreaking, and at the same time truly fascinating. It empathizes the gap between the power of mother nature and the limitations of human intervention. After 3 hours and several attempts, the rescue team was unsuccessful. It was determined that if the whale wasn't able to refloat itself on its own overnight, it would be euthanized the following morning. Due to the nature of this, we were not permitted to be on the beach at that time. It was truly an honor to be able to be present to witness and capture such an extraordinary event even though the outcome was not what anyone had hoped for.

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