The dolphins appeared to help the humpback out of the bay. Photo: Dolphin Discovery Center//Screenshot
In the middle of June, the Dolphin Discovery Center, a conservationist group doing amazing work in Western Australia, spotted a lost humpback whale. It was seen in Koomnana Bay, and the team that saw it decided to keep an eye on it. When they sent up a drone and took a boat out to get a closer look, something pretty amazing happened.
“What started as a grey and drizzly day in Bunbury turned into quite a lot of excitement very quickly,” the Dolphin Discovery Center wrote on Facebook. “Our volunteers on the lookout spotted an animal in the bay that was a bit too large for being one of the Bunbury dolphins. With spotting scopes and binoculars equipped, they could identify a whale near the Outer Harbor. We immediately deployed a drone and the Dolphin Eco-Cruise boat, having been in the vicinity, to check up on the animal and look for entanglements or injuries.”
Luckily, the lost whale appeared to be in good health. It’s not uncommon this time of year for humpbacks to be moving along that particular stretch of coastline. They’re heading north for their breeding grounds, but this one was in a strange place, tucked away in the bay.
“Sometimes it happens that an animal gets spooked by a predator, is in poor health or injured, or might have a fishing gear entanglement,” the Facebook post explained. “These animals then often seek shelter in calmer and more shallow parts to rest up.
As the volunteers watched, they were treated to a pretty amazing sight: a pod of dolphins appeared to guide the whale out of the bay and into the deep waters of Geographe Bay, so that it could continue on its northward journey.
