| I have a fascination with whales. Not that I have ever | | | | themselves. The creature was about fifty feet long, |
| seen one up close at a Marineland or even from a | | | | some 50 tons - and she was dying. The ropes were |
| distance on a whale-watching excursion. Nope, my | | | | digging deeper and deeper into her flesh, and the |
| interest began in Sunday School at Bethel Chapel in | | | | weight of the traps were dragging her down to the |
| Belleville, Ontario where we learned about Jonah and | | | | point where she could barely keep her blow hole |
| the Whale. Actually, as my Sunday School teacher | | | | above the surface of the water. One desperate flip of |
| (who was often my mother) corrected me, the whale | | | | her massive tail would kill a man. |
| was not really a whale - it was a big fish. A very big | | | | It took James Moskito and the other divers about an |
| fish that God sent to babysit Jonah, when he went | | | | hour to cut enough of the ropes to free the humpback. |
| astray, by swallowing him when he was drowning in | | | | It was not business as usually. Moskito reported, |
| the ocean, and then by throwing him up on dry land. It | | | | ""When I was cutting the line going through the mouth, |
| was the throwing up part I liked. Hey, even we | | | | its eye was there winking at me, watching me." He |
| Plymouth Brethren girls had our cruder moments! | | | | continued, "It was an epic moment of my life." Even |
| I am fascinated by whales because, being mammals, | | | | more fascinating, once the whale realized it was free, it |
| we have so much in common with them. A mother | | | | swam to each diver, nuzzled him and then swam to |
| whale is often surrounded by female whale attendants | | | | the next one. "It seemed kind of affectionate, like a |
| when she gives birth. If mom is too tired, the | | | | dog that's happy to see you,'' Moskito said. "I never felt |
| attendants take the baby up to the surface to take its | | | | threatened." |
| first breath. Momma whale nurses her baby anywhere | | | | Sadly, the future of whales is very threatened. Their |
| from one to two years - and in some species, the | | | | only predator? Humans! And we harm them directly |
| aunties will baby-sit to give momma whale break. In | | | | by hunting them, and indirectly by catching them in nets |
| optimal situations, whales can live some 70 years. | | | | meant for other marine animals. According to Karen |
| Now I am not sentimental about whales. I recognize | | | | Baragona of the World Wildlife Foundation, almost one |
| this species runs the gamut from gentle vegetarians to | | | | thousand whales, dolphins, and porpoises die every |
| ruthless pack hunters. A Seaworld research team | | | | day in nets and fishing gear as "bycatches" |
| documented the successful hunt - successful for the | | | | (unintentional trapping.) The U.S. Commission on Ocean |
| killer whales - of a much larger blue whale. The killers | | | | Policy identified bycatch as the greatest global threat |
| ate it to death. Nah, I don't want to swim with the big | | | | to cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises.) |
| fishes, waltz with wolves, play with polar bears or any | | | | It doesn't have to be this way - alternative netting and |
| of that stuff. | | | | vegetarian eating can save our largest mammals. At |
| But there are folks willing to take a whale of a risk. | | | | the End of Days, the time of the Great Reckoning, I |
| Last December, off the coast of California, a | | | | don't want to hear my Creator say, "About my |
| humpback whale got entangled in a web of nylon | | | | greatest mammal...what part of 'God saw that it was |
| ropes that link crab traps. A team of four divers | | | | good' didn't you understand?! |
| agreed to try to free the leviathan - at great risk to | | | | |