Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Expert disappointed at lost chance to save orca

By Liz Wylie
Whanganui Chronicle·
14 Mar, 2016 08:35 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

SAD SIGHT: Jessica Parkin headed off in the middle of the night but was too late to help the orca that died on Patea Beach.PHOTO/ LIZ WYLIE

SAD SIGHT: Jessica Parkin headed off in the middle of the night but was too late to help the orca that died on Patea Beach.PHOTO/ LIZ WYLIE

When Jessica Parkin heard there was a stranded orca on the beach at Patea she did not hesitate to jump in the car and drive there in the early hours of yesterday morning.

"I didn't even know where Patea is but when my mum said there was an orca there I knew I had to go even though it was the middle of the night," the Whanganui 23-year-old said.

Jessica's mum, Andrea Edwards, heard about the stranding through social media and knew her daughter had been a lover of the giant marine mammals since she was a child and that she would want the chance to see one.

By the time the pair arrived at Patea Beach, at around 2am, the whale had died and the rescuers had left the beach.

"I was disappointed not to see it alive, but I did wade into the water and touch its tail, which was amazing," said Jessica.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Asked what it felt like, she said: "Rubber."

Jessica arrived in Whanganui from Blackpool, England, just 16 months ago.

In four weeks she will be leaving to train as a police officer in Wellington.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I am going to Tauranga next week, and and I hope I'll get to see some orcas there.

"We don't get to see orcas off the English Coast."

Department of Conservation staff and local iwi were holding a karakia on the beach yesterday morning and samples were being taken for testing before the whale is buried.

Whanganui DOC operations manager Jasmine Hessell said in spite of the huge effort by local volunteers and DOC staff, the large mammal was unable to be kept alive and refloated.

Dr Ingrid Visser of the Orca Research Trust, a world expert on orcas, was disappointed that she was not contacted by DOC staff yesterday.

"The death of this whale is a tragedy that could have been avoided. It probably would have been better to move the orca above the tide line overnight.

"There are less than 200 orcas left around the New Zealand coastline, so this one is a terrible loss."

Dr Visser has been involved with many successful rescues of stranded orcas and said strandings are common around New Zealand.

"They get stranded when they chase stingrays into the shallow water and they just make mistakes - a bit like we make some poor judgments when driving our cars."

The doctor said she would like to take the opportunity to dispel some urban mythology about orcas and beach rescues.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"A popular misconception is that the whales' organs are crushed when they are lying on the beach and that is just not true," she said.

"They do have trouble breathing - just like we would if we were to lie on our chest for too long."

Dr Visser said orcas dive to great depths and their organs are well evolved to cope with the pressure. The first documented orca rescue was at Mangawhai Beach, Northland, in 1997 and Dr Visser said the whale, named "Ben" by the research trust, has been sighted many times during the past 19 years.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Good news for pilot academy as planes cleared to fly

Whanganui Chronicle

Wills Week promotes charitable giving

Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui backs new water services body with Ruapehu


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Good news for pilot academy as planes cleared to fly
Whanganui Chronicle

Good news for pilot academy as planes cleared to fly

The Whanganui academy's training certification remains suspended.

16 Jul 04:00 AM
Wills Week promotes charitable giving
Whanganui Chronicle

Wills Week promotes charitable giving

16 Jul 03:00 AM
Whanganui backs new water services body with Ruapehu
Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui backs new water services body with Ruapehu

15 Jul 09:15 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP