Pygmy blue whale gets stuck under dock: they dismantle it with a backhoe to free the animal

A whale nearly 15 meters long was stuck under a wharf on Kawau Island, New Zealand. The wharf was dismantled by rescuers, along with environmentalists, business owners and locals, to free the animal.

This Monday, September 16, 2024 in New Zealand, more precisely on the island of Kawau, a pygmy blue whale got stuck under a dock. It had to be dismantled to allow it to return to the open sea, revealed Radio New Zealand.

A subspecies of the blue whale, pygmy blue whales live in New Zealand waters. Due to hunting, blue whale populations have been greatly impacted. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) lists it as endangered.

"A very unusual situation"

Rescuers, along with conservationists, contractors and locals, dismantled the dock with a backhoe and guided the cetacean out into the deep waters. The whale will be monitored to ensure it does not beach itself again.

The New Zealand Department of Conservation said: “This was a highly unusual situation, and we worked carefully to free the whale while ensuring the safety of everyone involved. The whale showed some distress when a barge was brought in to dismantle the dock it was trapped under, but remained calm throughout the rescue operation.” He also thanked the owner of the dock and communicated that it would be repaired by his employees.