Dad, daughter find rare pygmy killer whale stranded on Beaufort County beach
What started out as a casual walk on the beach turned into a whale rescue attempt for a Beaufort County family earlier this month.
Courtney Csernica, who lives on Fripp Island, and her father, Mick Csernica of Lady’s Island, went to Little Capers Island on March 13.
Her dad is making furniture and decorative items for a store Csernica and her mother are planning to open in downtown Beaufort, and they were looking for driftwood. Instead, they found two stranded rare pygmy killer whales.
One was dead, but Csernica said the other was still alive.
“I get closer and realize that it’s still breathing,” she said.
She yelled for help. “Dad, get over here. He’s still alive!” she recalled.
The next thing she knew, her father had his shoes off and jeans rolled up and was pulling the creature past the breakers.
“We didn’t think he was going to make it,” Csernica said. “All of a sudden, it seemed like he got his second wind, and he swam away. We almost started crying we were so happy.”
Pygmy killer whales are actually members of the dolphin family, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Not much is known about them.
The animal was about 7 feet long and about 250 pounds, Csernica estimated.
“I felt so horrible for it because I was thinking about how long it must have been out of water,” she said.
If you find a stranded animal
Wayne McFee, a biologist who leads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine mammal program in Charleston, said in spite of the family’s good intentions, they shouldn’t have pulled the whale back into the water.
“They are powerful, muscular animals that can cause real injury to people who don’t know what they are doing,” McFee wrote in an email.
He also explained that pygmy killer whales are deepwater animals, so the fact they are on the beach means they are seriously ill.
“Pushing them out to sea does nothing other than make them susceptible to shark predation and restranding in another location,” McFee wrote.
Anyone who finds a stranded animal on the beach should call the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources hotline at 800-922-5431.
This story was originally published March 27, 2020 at 1:43 PM.
