SIGHTSEEING IN CAPE TOWN
Hermanus in South Africa is World renown for Whale watching, the place to which thousands of tourists return annually, to hear the cry of the whales and watch them bond with their calves after mating. False Bay, near Cape Town is another such site frequented by these giants, however just a few weeks ago some 55 whales had to be put down on Kommetjie beach on the West coast which is also only a few dozen miles out of Cape Town. Cape Town is the Southern most City in Africa and is the place where Jacob Zuma was sworn-in as president of South Africa just a few weeks ago, as successor Mbeki and Madiba -Nelson Mandela, since the fall of apartheid.
However, Whale culling activists of Cape Town has long taken a stand against culling of Whales by far-eastern fishermen for many-many years, yet other Cape Town inhabitants unceremoniously culled all 55 Whales mentioned previously. As such, sightseeing in Cape Town will never be viewed the same again. These 55 whales beached themselves for no apparent reason according to human understanding. The Sea Rescue Institute and the Dept of Environmental Affairs along with the Police and some volunteers relentlessly tried to return them to the sea. Those that they successfully re-floated, just re-beached themselves further along the coast. Bad weather, hampered the rescue attempt for several hours resulting in their eventual culling. More than 20 whales were returned to the sea, but it was a futile operation by all, as they were eventually culled like pigs.
A spokes person for the Dolphin Action and Protection group predicted that the whales would not survive the night on the beach and as a measure mercy culled them rather than risk their suffocation and the damage to their vital organs under their own weight. However the department of the environmental affairs was heavily criticized by wildlife groups for their decision to shoot the adults whales along with their calves. General onlookers flocked to see the spectacle and the public's intervention to prevent the euthanasia resulted in police action against them. But in the end, all 55 whales where destined to the local trash heap at Vissershoek after having loaded them onto trucks with front end loaders and tractors in the darkness of the night.
See my photo slide-show above of the botched Whale rescue. See them HERE! Sightseeing in Cape Town continues HERE!
