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Posted 7/05/2008.   Here is a whale of a story.  A killer whale story to be precise.  Yet it seems even those Aussies down south have trouble with whales beaching themselves. Near Auckland a killer whale estimated to be about three years old beached itself on Friday afternoon.  The whale coming in at a petite 3.4m was a female and naturally was in trouble.  Inexperienced whales are not the only sea mammals to have beached themselves, but they are the ones most likely to be saved.  Simply because they weigh less and so the crushing force of gravity isn’t as strong on them when out of the water. Of course, volunteers and animal conservation staff will make every effort to save every beached whale.  Luckily, this little less was the only one to wash up on shore at this particular beach. To help save the whales life she was watched over overnight by project Jonah and department of conservation staff. They decided that the whale was small enough to be handled and department spokesman Bill Trusewich stated that the decision was made yesterday morning to move the whale bike trailer to Takapuna Beach where the water is calmer. Though an uncomfortable journey for the whale, she survived the trip and did not take very long to get reoriented once back in the water. Mr. Trusewich said, ‘Within 10 minutes it was able to regain its stability again and move off by itself.” As you can imagine this whale is happy to be alive and so are the people who rescued it. Happy that it’s alive that is. All too often whales that beached themselves do not survive their experience on dry land. When one whale can be saved it’s a cause for celebration. The whale was monitored as it made its way out to bring the total channel just in case it tries to come ashore again or loses its bearings.   Source: