Fishermen save a beluga whale that got stuck on the mud at low tide.

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Fit-to-be-untied@reddit

Beluga whales are quite social and have very active mating lives that span decades. Sounds like the time George’s fake wedding ring put the kibosh on years of guilt-free sex that can last decades as well.

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According-Caramel958@reddit

Thank you for being kind!

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chalakahn@reddit

Wonderful human beings

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LudicrousPlatypus@reddit

Don't pull a whale by the tail. Next time you find one take some big bed sheets, wet them in the sea water, gently get the whale onto the bedsheets and try and lift it.

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MrUpVoteDownvote@reddit (OP)

Bedsheets in the middle of a fishing trip?

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LudicrousPlatypus@reddit

It’s one of the reasons to call Marine Life Rescue.

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Its_Bob_Gnarly@reddit

Good work gentlemen

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GoblinLivesMatter@reddit

Good luck for life!

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LAWhaleGuide@reddit

Atta boys 😊

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Routine-shits123@reddit

thank you for caring ❤️

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chevelletransam@reddit

Great job

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clitoriaternatea8@reddit

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏✨️✨️🤗😊🐳

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amaviamor@reddit

That is simply one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen a man do. Excellent job

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Routine-Percentage24@reddit

Heck yeah!!! Awesome!

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Pixilatedhighmukamuk@reddit

Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has Beluga whales. When they swim up to the glass you can really see how magical the whales really are.

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AcanthisittaSpare400@reddit

Honestly that’s when I decided to never go back to The Shedd. Whales belong in the ocean, not a tank.

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ambiguouslyincognito@reddit

Saw this reel yesterday.... but not me dying at the AI search at the bottom being "seafood buffet near me"

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Mammoth_Welder_1286@reddit

This is hilarious

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MrUpVoteDownvote@reddit (OP)

😂😭

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Kindly-Jellyfish3749@reddit

It’s so great that they helped, but if you ever come upon a whale or other marine mammal, please call animal control. Pulling a whale or dolphin by the tail could seriously injure it, and professionals would also be able to assess if there were any other injuries or if she was sick in any way. (Also their hearing is really sensitive, so always good to celebrate quietly in these moments.) Just some tips for the whale-loving community here 🙏🏻❤️

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MyFaceSaysItsSugar@reddit

And doing this with any other species would likely just drown it. Belugas hunt up tidal rivers and occasionally get stuck when the tide goes out. They normally survive and swim off when the tide returns. They’re also the only whale capable of swimming backwards, which sometimes gets them out of a shallow situation. This means they beach when they’re perfectly healthy.

Other dolphins and whales tend to beach when there’s something wrong with their health and they go shallow in order to keep their head above water. This means they’ll just drown if put back out to sea. Occasionally they beach because they get startled by deep ocean sonar, but even then, they can get water in their lungs from the choppier shore waves and suffer secondary drowning. It’s common practice to put rescued dolphins on lasix to help get water out of their lungs.

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sixisrending@reddit

Only beaked whales have a noticeably adverse reaction to sonar. Dolphins would still bow ride our ship while we were active.

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MyFaceSaysItsSugar@reddit

Beaked whales don’t have a unique reaction, their behavior puts them more commonly in the firing line for sonar tests. Their feeding area is right where most sonar testing happens. But there have been mass standings of other species, like rough toothed dolphins, where sonar is the likely culprit. Any marine mammal is susceptible to damage if they’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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sixisrending@reddit

Sonar is operated everywhere in the oceans. Beach whales respond negatively to certain types of LFA sonar, which is rarely used and is not onboard any warships (too large) which use MFA sonar.

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slothdonki@reddit

This is so wild to me. Not the intentional risk itself but more specifically what must be going through their heads when they get stuck and they’re just waiting or teaching(presumably) their young that it’s totally cool, it’ll be probably be fine.

Do they show signs of stress, just chill or take a nap?

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TacTurtle@reddit

"Boy, I sure hope there are no bears wandering by this mudflat until high tide."

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exparkranger@reddit

This is in rural Alaska. There ain’t professionals to rescue animals. These fishing villages are hours from anything. This was the only chance this beluga had.

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MyFaceSaysItsSugar@reddit

Not necessarily. They can often just wait for the tide to return and swim off then. They hunt up tidal streams so this happens every once in a while.

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Literary_Witch@reddit

Cetaceans cannot survive out of water for long at all. They are buoyant and once they are out of water and experience gravity, it’s a crushing pressure that their organs aren’t used to and they begin to shut down. Their bodies aren’t designed to support their own weight. Most beached cetaceans (that aren’t sick or injured for other reasons) end up dying from heart failure / multi system organ failure.

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MyFaceSaysItsSugar@reddit

However, most if not all usually survive until the tide comes back in. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/alaska/outreach-and-education/5-facts-learned-beluga-whale-research

You cannot clump smaller odontocetes in with all of cetacea. Belugas are transported in trucks cross country or even between different countries. Orcas are even larger and they’re similarly transported. They’ve been shipped internationally. They’re put on foam pads to avoid pressure wounds and kept wet to prevent skin lesions but those are both survivable injuries, particularly because their skin is about 6 mm thick. Kogia, orcas, belugas, and pilot whales have all been housed in aquariums and that means they’ve all been transported on a flatbed truck. I’m not going to touch on the ethics of captivity but they definitely survive out of water for extended periods of time.

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salomexyz@reddit

there are a lot of rescues with 8-16 hours on land (until next tide.) with good outcomes. Dragging whales, especially big ones is the "ultima ratio" when waiting wasn't sucessful

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Kindly-Jellyfish3749@reddit

I didn’t realize it was so rural - thanks for the context!

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exparkranger@reddit

You’re a good sport. It’s a misunderstood state and most folks don’t realize how out there we are here.

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ShittyRubberBoots@reddit

I’m in not-so-rural Alaska, and the tidal changes at the mouth of the river where the belugas come in at this time of year are 20ish feet per cycle. People giving a shit are still mostly the only chance these dudes have.

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MrUpVoteDownvote@reddit (OP)

Agreed

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No-Jacket-2927@reddit

I worked in EMS, so I get the need for forethought, but do you not understand that this whale would have suffocated in less than half the time it would take to hear back from anyone?

Even on an ambulance, you have situations where you might have to injure someone to protect them from a greater threat, like fire, rubber-necking drivers, etc.

I mean, do you not know that it's perfectly normal to hear the sternum and ribs crack during CPR?

Determining severity and need for action is called triage, and it has to be nearly instantaneous.

Just like these amazing folks did!

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Fano_93@reddit

So what you just tell the whale to lay there and stay alive until a vet can come and check its vitals?

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Acheloma@reddit

In a remote area like this where calling for help isnt an option, would the risk of injuring the whale decrease if you had half of the folks helping push from the front of the whale instead of just pulling?

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Kindly-Jellyfish3749@reddit

I think pushing would be a bit better. If there were a tarp or blanket available, trying to push the whale onto that and carry or slide it back to sea might work. I’m not a professional in this regard, but I’ve worked in marine biology in more urban settings, and we’ve had folks try to help animals who get stranded and sadly sometimes end up killing them.

Calling someone might still help. They can advise like how you can call 911 to talk you through what to do when someone is choking etc.

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realSatanAMA@reddit

I would think rolling it would be easier on the whale and the people trying to move it.. you'd need one person in charge of managing flippers

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Tigrisrock@reddit

A quick, pragmatic solution is sometimes a better choice in an emergency.

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Lindethiel@reddit

I know that the circumstances of this particular rescue kind of called for some scrappy intervention, but yeah.

Just thinking about what happened to that poor 'luga's shoulder joint makes me 😬

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mnbax1020@reddit

🥹🥹🥹👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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Dogbold@reddit

How sweet

These same guys will then go out later and fish up 100,000 fish that the beluga eats and it will starve to death.

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MrUpVoteDownvote@reddit (OP)

Would you rather that these fishermen left it there so it could die instead? 🤨

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OiFelix_ugotnojams@reddit

Maybe I was talking about how I feel instead of this certain situation?

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MrUpVoteDownvote@reddit (OP)

I asked you a question.

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