It’s an odd day when I hear news on a national television network before seeing it on the Internet. But that was the case today with this story from ABC. There’s video at the sites below.
The Thortons and a group of their friends had traveled to the Dominican Republic to swim with whales in a sanctuary off the coast. On the last day of their week-long trip, they were snorkeling near a sleeping mother and her calf. Mother whales push their calves to the surface to teach them to breathe, so the calf was above the adult.
A whip of the mother whale’s tail sent Gwen Thornton flying 20 feet, knocked another woman unconscious, and broke Randall Thornton’s leg. It was all recorded on video by another of the divers.
- Snorkelers Survive Run-In With Humpback Whale
- Utah tourists recount whale attack near Dominican Republic
Humback Whales are large, filter-feeding animals. They do not have teeth, but instead use hair-like plates of baleen to sieve planktonic prey from the water. They are are not known for unprovoked attacks.
In United States, the Marine Mammal Protection Act protects marine mammals from harassment by humans.
This brings to mind another odd interaction between humans and whales. In the early 90s, Lee Tepley, a wildlife videographer, and his assistant were pursuing a pod of pilot whales. One of the whales grabbed the assistant and pulled her down to about 40 feet. Tepley videotaped the encounter and it has often appeared on “Animal Attack” shows.
UPDATE: In an unrelated event, a Japanese fisherman was “attacked” while trying to rescue a sperm whale. Sadly, it seems he perished in the encounter. Details are scant but dramatic video is available.
An angry whale knocked a Japanese fisherman out of his small boat on Tuesday, and the whole thing was caught on tape.
The man had been trying to rescue the whale, which had strayed out of open waters.
The body of the fisherman was later discovered by divers. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
The whale started to thrash and threw two other fishermen from another boat into the water, as well.
[via X-ray Magazine's Blog]
Protecting a calf isn’t unprovoked and I’ve seen a couple of videos that show Humpbacks being very aggressive in the act of protecting their young.
I just came from a week in Maui where I had the privilege of watching humpback whales and their newborns. There are some pretty serious rules in Hawaii for keeping your distance from the whales and giving them their space. I don’t understand why anyone would want to snorkel close enough to them to be tossed that way.
Pardon me for being harsh, but they snorkeled around those whales at their own peril, and I’m not surprised that they were injured as a result.