He Takes and He Takes and He Takes

Tully Rohrer

September 17^th, 2006

Yesterday we responded to a call that a dolphin had washed up on the beach at White’s Landing. Turns out it was a juvenile Risso’s, a little over a hundred pounds, isolated from its mother and dying. We moved her back to the ocean, holding and comforting her in the shallows for two hours while we turned a cot into a makeshift stretcher. We got approval to transport her from the authorities, hoisted her onto a boat and transported her to marine mammal specialists at Dana Point, sponging her and cooling her along the way. She made it all the way through the two and a half hour trip, opening her eyes and breathing regularly along the way. Unfortunately, right after she was transferred to the marine mammal specialists, she started to spasm and finally let go. We will probably never know what it was that separated her from her mother (beachings are fairly common), but the scars on her tail suggested she had been tangled in something fairly recently, and you can see that her nose was damaged as well. While we knew she didn’t have much of a chance of survival from the beginning, it was still sad to see her go.
As opposed to my normal objective of presenting a very artistic view of a scene, I approached this post in more of a photojournalistic style. My hope is that it provides some visual impact to this incredible experience.

The close up of the whale’s face is a very powerful shot.

Joy — September 17^th, 2006

That is just too sad. Poor thing. Her last day was without her mom. It is just very sad. Very powerful and overwhelming images images though. I was reading the story to my mom, and she thought I was going to cry.

alex m — September 18^th, 2006

Tully,
Once again you truly captured the moment… and what a powerful moment that it was. Amongst the sadness of the day, I am reminded of images that made me smile and be proud… Cooperation, unconditional love, passion, and well, you lying on the sand to warm up.

theoceanboy — September 23^rd, 2006

tully, you are so artistic and your emotions come out in your photos. the heart and soul of this struggling creature is captured by your slide of hand in the most amazing way possible.

livingbythesea — September 27^th, 2006