「周六晚是發現我有生以來最難過的晚上......我永遠忘不了牠們的哀號。」
Liz Carlson是條鯨牠們旅遊網誌作者，上周六（24日）她跟朋友到紐西蘭南端人跡罕至的魚擱永遠眼淚小島露營。當他們來到梅森灣（Mason Bay）時，女孩剛好是號和日落時分，原本美好的發現景致卻成了一幅天地不仁的寫照。一群鯨魚在近岸處苦苦掙扎，條鯨牠們Liz Carlson和朋友立即跑過去。魚擱永遠眼淚
「我們拼命抓住鯨魚的女孩尾巴，大喊大叫，號和用盡力氣地推，發現牠們不斷掙扎。條鯨牠們我們很快明白這是魚擱永遠眼淚無用的，牠們太龐大、女孩沉重了。號和知道自己救不了牠們是最難受的。」Liz說。
他們隨即想找幫手，但身處的梅森灣實在太偏遠，過去兩天都沒見過其他人，連手機訊號都沒有。他們知道15公里外有一個環保局的補給站，Liz的朋友Julian決定跑去那兒看看是否有無線電，留下Liz守著鯨魚。
Liz獨自看著145條鯨魚，欲救無從。她發現了一條小鯨魚，奮力把牠拉到海裡，但小鯨魚不肯離開同伴，又游回岸邊。筋疲力竭的Liz只有坐在小鯨魚的身旁。
「我永遠不能忘記牠們的哀號和看著我的眼神，牠們是如何努力想游出去，但因為身體太沉重，反而更深陷沙堆裡。」
「我知道牠們是逃不過了，我跪在沙灘，痛哭叫喊，伴著的就只有鯨魚垂死的哀哭。」
「牠們看著你，你可以感受到牠們的恐懼。牠們的眼晴很人性化。」
入夜後，Julian帶著幾個幫手趕來，但因為天色太暗，根本沒什麼可以做。他們曾經希望，潮漲時鯨魚會游回海裡，只是，翌日清晨的景象更悲慘。由於早上潮退，部分鯨魚在沙灘上受著太陽的曝曬，有的已死亡。
「牠們眼有淚水，看來像是在哭，還有那哀切的叫聲。」Liz說。
在 Instagram 查看這則貼文Saturday night was the worst night of my entire life. 50kms into a 5 day tramp on the remote west coast of Stewart Island, we were wandering back to our camp at at sunset and came across hundreds of pilot whales becoming beached in the low surf. When we realized the horror of what we were seeing, we dropped everything and ran straight into the water. Desperately we grabbed their tails and pushed and yelled, before we got hammered by them thrashing around. It was useless - they were so big and heavy and the realization we could do nothing to save them was the worst feeling I’ve ever experienced. We were in a place with no people, no service, no help. @ju_riviera was a champion and took off running at 8:30pm in his wet sandy clothes and boots almost 15 kilometers back to a base hut up the bay where we knew there were DOC rangers working who would have a radio. He made it in 1.5 hours to raise the alarm, and I stayed with the whales til dark, sitting with them, dragging the smallest baby back in the water every few minutes before it would rebeach itself, and throwing water over the drier whales until my hands were numb from the water and wind. I’ll never forget their cries, the way they watched me as I sat with them in the water, how they desperately tried to swim but their weight only dug them deeper into the sands. My heart completely broke. When the realization there was no hope, it was almost dark, high tide was in the middle of the night and knowing this was one of the most remote places in New Zealand, I knew they would inevitable die. I sank to my knees in the sand screaming in frustration and crying, with the sound of dozens of dying whales behind me, utterly alone. It would take close to 1000 people to save them, more than double the whole population of Rakiura. The only positive bit was thanks to us alerting everyone, they were able to euthanize them shortly afterwards, and my heart hurts for the man who had that horrific job, and would have done anything to save them too. Otherwise it would have likely been days before anyone even knew the whales were there and a very long painful slow death for them all. I’ll never be the same after this.
Liz在社交平台寫道，要救145條擱淺的鯨魚，可能要動員1000人，那是整個斯圖爾特島（Rakiura）人口的一倍。唯一較正面的想法是通知了環保局的人，讓鯨魚可以盡快進行安樂死，否則部分鯨魚可能要痛苦幾天才死去。
據BBC報導，紐西蘭環保局會讓鯨魚屍體留在原位，自然分解消散。當局表示，一大群鯨魚擱淺並不常見，原因未明，有可能是受到地理環境所誤導，或是疾病影響。不過，領航鯨是群居動物，可能是其中一條迷失並擱淺了，整群鯨魚游過來想幫牠。
相關文章：
- 145領航鯨紐西蘭擱淺 環保局：拯救困難或安樂死
- 鯨魚的祖先長得像狼，還會走路？
資料來源：
- 'Horror' of discovering dying whales (Otago Daily Times)
- New Zealand whale stranding: 'I will never forget their cries' (BBC)