A remarkable woman
On the morning of the 18th of March, through our locals Facebook group, we found out that an orca had been stranded on our local beach. Having never seen an orca on a beach before, Bart and I drove to the beach.
Unfortunately, the orca had died. We walked down to the beach where people had gathered around the dead killerwhale, who lay there in a big pool of blood. A woman was answering questions from a group of children that stood around the whale. Apparently the children had been swimming, they all had towels wrapped around them. The woman was very knowledgeable and patiently answered all the questions, making sure all the children had the chance to have a good look at the whale. The orca had most likely drowned while hunting for stingrays in the shallow waters around Mangawhai. Groups of orcas had been spotted along the coast in the past several days. When an orca spins in the water and the water is too shallow, she lands on her side and can't get back into the water. When the tide rises her blowhole will fill up first, causing her to drown.
The woman turned out to be Ingrid Visser, the only authority on orca's in New Zealand. She has set up the Orca Research Trust. She is also involved in the Free Morgan Foundation, a foundation trying to get orca Morgan back into the wild and out of captivity from an amusement park in Spain. Morgan was captured in the Netherlands in 2010 and after being at the Dolfinarium for a long time, shipped to Spain.
Anyway, I divert.
A local with a tractor helped to move the whale to a quiet place in the dunes. There Ingrid took charge and, with the help of locals, disected the body of the orca. But not before the local iwi were consulted about the proceedings (Maori who have to be consulted and asked for permission as the whale is very important to them (find out why here).
There was a memorial service led by the iwi, with prayers and singing. Ingrid cried. The professional rational scientist had just for a moment been replaced by a caring woman who had lost a friend. I put my arm around her for comfort and she was grateful. The orca was named (don't ask me the name, it was something long and Maori). Then another local came with a digger and dug a big hole for the grave. The disecting took all day, was very hard work, it was hot, there was no drinking water available for a long time and no food available. Ingrid had hardly slept the night before, as she had been answering phonecalls all night about the triumph in stopping the breeding programs in Seaworld. Yet she explained to the few bystanders what she was doing, while collecting tissue for research; she answered questions while cutting up the mammal, she took the time to have her picture taken with a little girl, she knew everyone that was helping her by name and she was just very inspiring. And all in the strong smell of a dead cut open orca...
When the disecting was done she made sure the orca had a worthy funeral. She involved Skyler and the other child that was there by asking them to collect some shells to put on the grave. There was another short ceremony led by the iwi, the whale was coverd with a sheet and then the big hole in the ground was covered up with dirt. A piece of driftwood was placed at the back of the grave (so as to confuse any people who might want to dig her up and get her teeth), some native bush was added and Skyler and the girl decorated with the shells. We all helped getting the samples and Ingrid's gear back in the buggy someone had left for her and even then she took the time to talk to Skyler and thank him for his contribution to the funeral.
Ingrid must have been exhausted but she was so strong, respectful to both the orca and the iwi and inspiring. I was very impressed and realized I had spent a whole day looking at a woman cutting up an orca!
That's also life in Mangawhai!
Note: if you are very sensitive, you might not want to look at the pictures. I tried to document everything that happened. This is a very small selection and some of the least explicit pictures! It is not all pretty, but it was all done very respectfully.
Ingrid Visser explaing what happened to the group of children that had gathered.
She was found early in the morning. Had probably been there for 24 hours. She must have had a baby shortly before. This baby would most likely be adopted by the other whales.
Transported by a local to a quiet place for her burial.
Not a pretty picture, but lots of information for scientists. Luckily the iwi (looking on) agreed this was useful, as they have the final say. I did not take any pictures of the ceremony.
Finishing touches on the grave.
A beautiful gravesite