Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Group of Pilot Whales Released into Ocean

Aired August 10, 2003 - 10:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Florida Keys. A group of ocean specialists releasing five pilot whales into the sea. It's an unprecedented undertaking, and CNN's John Zarrella is there at Big Pine Key watching it all take place.
And so they're off and swimming now?

ZARRELLA: Well, no, they're not swimming yet. They're off. They're on the way. It's going to take a couple hours for them to be hauled out on those boats that they took them out on. It's about two- and-a-half hours before they get 12 miles offshore to the drop site.

It has, again, been a -- it's an historic event. Never before have five whales from a single stranding event been rehabilitated and returned back to the sea.

It took about four hours this morning, the process of loading the whales, of preparing the whales into these giant slings, and three of the five whales were affixed with satellite-tracking devices, and that took place right here.

Two of the whales are going to be affixed with those satellite- tracking devices out at sea as they're heading out to that drop site. All went smoothly in that process. They left here about 10:30 this morning, and it was an effort that took hundreds of people -- volunteers, scientists. They had five veterinarians on site this morning.

And, in fact, none of what has happened during the past three months that the whales have been here would have been possible without the help of the volunteers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): There is a feeling, a sense that somehow these five surviving pilot whales know they are alive and are being released back into the ocean only because a community mobilized to save them.

RICK TROUT, LEAD RESCUER: There are folks that risked their lives, their marriages, and their employment to come and help.

ZARRELLA: The whales were among 28 that stranded themselves in the Florida Keys back on April 18. Hundreds of people rushed to help. Many have been involved ever since.

M.J. TAYLOR, VOLUNTEER: Terrific. OK. And thanks so much for all your support. You Rotary people have been so good to us.

ZARRELLA: At the whale rehabilitation site, M.J. Taylor handles the phones. Many mornings, she's cooked breakfast for the other volunteers.

TAYLOR: I love people, and I love the way communities get together and help when there's any kind of a crisis or need, and so I wanted to be part of it.

ZARRELLA: Money had to be raised to buy supplies for workers, food for the whales. They eat about 40 pounds of fish each every day. Smelts are preferable.

Eighteen-year-old Lorin West sold whale rescue T-shirts to raise cash.

LORIN WEST, VOLUNTEER: I was on vacation with my father and my brother, and we came -- we were on our way home when I saw the sign, and I had to stop, and I fell in love and had to come back.

ZARRELLA: Lorin has been living here at the site in a motor home with other volunteers. With the whale rescue effort now coming to a close, they can smile, pat each other on the back, and walk away with a lifetime of storybook memories.

TROUT: I don't think Walt Disney could have written this any better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Still, one more hurdle. The whales might not adapt to being released in the wild. They're going to be tracked for a couple of weeks. If necessary, they will be recaptured and brought back here for further rehabilitation. But, hopefully, this first time will be the charm.

This is John Zarrella reporting live from the Big Pine in the Keys.

WHITFIELD: In fact, John, that's what I was about to ask you. I'm wondering if there is some concern that these whales may have depended on the humans a little too much and that they may not be able to know how to get back into their own, you know, swing of things?

ZARRELLA: What the humans have done in the last couple of weeks is to withdraw from the whales. They didn't spend as much time in the water with them. They fed them from offshore. They did things to pull back from the whales.

But there is definitely that genuine concern, especially one of the whales, a very big concern that she might not adapt to the wild. And, if that does happen, it might be that they will end up at some marine mammal park simply because they never -- the ones that do -- may come back in, they may never be able to readapt to the wild, and that is a possibility -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. A new chapter beginning then. Thanks a lot, John.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired August 10, 2003 - 10:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Florida Keys. A group of ocean specialists releasing five pilot whales into the sea. It's an unprecedented undertaking, and CNN's John Zarrella is there at Big Pine Key watching it all take place.
And so they're off and swimming now?

ZARRELLA: Well, no, they're not swimming yet. They're off. They're on the way. It's going to take a couple hours for them to be hauled out on those boats that they took them out on. It's about two- and-a-half hours before they get 12 miles offshore to the drop site.

It has, again, been a -- it's an historic event. Never before have five whales from a single stranding event been rehabilitated and returned back to the sea.

It took about four hours this morning, the process of loading the whales, of preparing the whales into these giant slings, and three of the five whales were affixed with satellite-tracking devices, and that took place right here.

Two of the whales are going to be affixed with those satellite- tracking devices out at sea as they're heading out to that drop site. All went smoothly in that process. They left here about 10:30 this morning, and it was an effort that took hundreds of people -- volunteers, scientists. They had five veterinarians on site this morning.

And, in fact, none of what has happened during the past three months that the whales have been here would have been possible without the help of the volunteers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): There is a feeling, a sense that somehow these five surviving pilot whales know they are alive and are being released back into the ocean only because a community mobilized to save them.

RICK TROUT, LEAD RESCUER: There are folks that risked their lives, their marriages, and their employment to come and help.

ZARRELLA: The whales were among 28 that stranded themselves in the Florida Keys back on April 18. Hundreds of people rushed to help. Many have been involved ever since.

M.J. TAYLOR, VOLUNTEER: Terrific. OK. And thanks so much for all your support. You Rotary people have been so good to us.

ZARRELLA: At the whale rehabilitation site, M.J. Taylor handles the phones. Many mornings, she's cooked breakfast for the other volunteers.

TAYLOR: I love people, and I love the way communities get together and help when there's any kind of a crisis or need, and so I wanted to be part of it.

ZARRELLA: Money had to be raised to buy supplies for workers, food for the whales. They eat about 40 pounds of fish each every day. Smelts are preferable.

Eighteen-year-old Lorin West sold whale rescue T-shirts to raise cash.

LORIN WEST, VOLUNTEER: I was on vacation with my father and my brother, and we came -- we were on our way home when I saw the sign, and I had to stop, and I fell in love and had to come back.

ZARRELLA: Lorin has been living here at the site in a motor home with other volunteers. With the whale rescue effort now coming to a close, they can smile, pat each other on the back, and walk away with a lifetime of storybook memories.

TROUT: I don't think Walt Disney could have written this any better.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Still, one more hurdle. The whales might not adapt to being released in the wild. They're going to be tracked for a couple of weeks. If necessary, they will be recaptured and brought back here for further rehabilitation. But, hopefully, this first time will be the charm.

This is John Zarrella reporting live from the Big Pine in the Keys.

WHITFIELD: In fact, John, that's what I was about to ask you. I'm wondering if there is some concern that these whales may have depended on the humans a little too much and that they may not be able to know how to get back into their own, you know, swing of things?

ZARRELLA: What the humans have done in the last couple of weeks is to withdraw from the whales. They didn't spend as much time in the water with them. They fed them from offshore. They did things to pull back from the whales.

But there is definitely that genuine concern, especially one of the whales, a very big concern that she might not adapt to the wild. And, if that does happen, it might be that they will end up at some marine mammal park simply because they never -- the ones that do -- may come back in, they may never be able to readapt to the wild, and that is a possibility -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. A new chapter beginning then. Thanks a lot, John.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com