Trapped whale dies, some dolphins rescued
Much of the island of Newfoundland is under another severe weather warning as high winds up to 80 km/h and snow continue to sweep the area.
In some areas anywhere from 50 up to 90 cm of snow has fallen since Monday alone, and more is still expected, as much as an additional 20cm in places before the storm begins to move off Tuesday evening.
Strong onshore winds last week also pushed thick sea ice into harbours and coves in many places along the coast.
In one case a large humpback whale was trapped with no way out. A whale rescue group said the weather and ice conditions made it impossible for them to help the whale which struggled for three days before dying Monday evening in a cove near Old Perlican on the northern tip of the Avalon peninsula. Locals said it was heartbreaking to hear the whale crying.
On another note, some dolphins trapped in much the same way were saved near Bell Island thanks to the concerted efforts of locals aided by the Whale Release and Strandings group.
Some nine dolpins had been caught in sea-ice pushed ashore as the blizzard began last week. They were noticed by a resident on Sunday, and an ad-hoc rescue group was put together
In a break in the storm, locals managed to haul out five of the dolphins and release them in ice free water. Unfortunately the fifth one died in transit and four others could not be saved from the ice and perished.
The four rescued dolphins seem to be doing ok, although they had sustained some scrapes to their skin from the ice.
On a lighter note, a father and son, David and Austin Thomson fed up with the ongoing blizzard posted a video of a song written by 14-year-old Austin.
The video taken outside their home in Lewisporte, is called “ I really hate snow”. Posted on David Thomson’s Facebook page, it’s been viewed at least 200,000 times since posting on Monday.
Additional information- Sources
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.