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The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
June 7, 2013
Pilot Whale Came Ashore Twice On Assateague Island
By TRAVIS BROWN
STAFF WRITER
A 15-foot pilot whale is pictured on Assateague Island in one of two instances when it beached itself last Saturday. At right, Chris Battersby of Federalsburg is pictured trying to return the whale to the ocean.
Photos by Dave Quilter, above, and A.J. Plutschak
ASSATEAGUE – The efforts of one Good Samaritan helped a beached pilot whale get back into the ocean last Saturday after it had washed ashore on Assateague’s Federal beach. Unfortunately, the story did not have a happy ending, with the same whale again washing ashore hours later and not surviving its third stranding. Officials commended the bystander’s instinct to help the animal but stressed that when people encounter a beached whale the best option is to contact stranding authorities and wait. The whale was first spotted by a group of friends returning from an outing on the beach. As they drove along Assateague’s national seashore near the 24-mile marker, Becky Battersby of Federalsburg, noticed the animal grounded in the surf. Her husband, Chris, jumped into the water to help the whale while she called the ranger station. Friends A.J. Plutschak and Amanda Smith also left the vehicle to document the encounter. Numerous other beach-goers reported seeing the whale on and off throughout the day on Saturday. “We were just driving down the beach getting ready to leave and actually Chris’s wife was the one who saw it. We all stopped and Chris ran out to try to help it,” said
Plutschak. According to Chris Battersby, it was about 4 p.m. when they stopped and the whale was stuck on the beach, badly turned around. “Its head was facing the beach, so I turned it around and then uprighted it,” he said. “Basically, every time a wave came in to help lift the animal up I would just push as hard as I could out into the ocean. It took about 15 to 20 minutes and then it was back out in the water.” The pilot whale was 15 to 16 feet long and at least 1,000 pounds, by Chris Battersby’s estimation. However, he said that the whale never made him feel nervous or threatened in anyway. “I didn’t think about getting hurt or anything like that,” he said. “I just kept thinking, ‘gotta get it in the water, gotta get it in the water.’ ” Once the animal successfully made it back into the water, the group left their information with the park rangers and headed back to Federalsburg. It was only two or three hours later that Chris Battersby received a call from Assateague rangers asking him to identify the whale he had helped earlier that afternoon. A whale had washed ashore north of the original sighting and rangers were unsure if it was the same one that the Battersbys, Smith and Plutschak had assisted. Chris Battersby was able to identify it as the same creature. The SEE NEXT PAGE
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