Penny - good news nahh you don't want that

jjcollins

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 26, 1999
You want Excellent News like this.


Five pilot whales that stranded nearly four months ago in the Florida Keys spent their last planned day in captivity Friday as marine experts prepared to release them into the ocean.

To get them ready, volunteers have stopped swimming with the whales and no longer hand-feed them. They also have made the whales exercise by throwing meal fish into opposite ends of the football-field length natural lagoon where they are kept, said Jeff Foster, of the Seattle-based Marine Research Consultants, which is assisting with the whales.

"The animals are alert and they're more active than they have been," Foster said. "The next step is to take them and continue on their journey out to the wild."

Volunteers - ranging from local residents to tourists seizing a once in a lifetime opportunity to touch a whale - nursed the five creatures back to health.

Some held the five mammals up in the water until they were strong enough to swim on their own. Others hand fed the whales raw fish, including some infused with medicine, often suffering bites from the eager toothy mouths.

"The real heroes here are the volunteers that dedicated themselves to this effort," said Becky Arnold, director of the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team. "It definitely makes the world a better place."

More than 100 days after the whales beached themselves, the blood tests showed they were healthy enough to return to the sea.

At high tide Saturday morning, Foster plans to lift the whales with cranes onto slings and load them onto boats, which will tow them about 12 miles offshore to the edge of the continental shelf.



Fingers crossed - hope they do ok ;)


jj...... :) :)
 
LOL! Thanks JJ

Let's hope they're all ok after release and go on to, ummm, live happily ever after ;)
 

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