The efforts of three local provincial wildlife officers in helping to save a pod of pilot whales which had become beached near Embree in Notre Dame Bay was recognized in the House of Assembly this week.
Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture Derrick Bragg paid tribute to Resource Enforcement officer Ryan Collier and two of his colleagues, Ryan Knott and Mitchell Gillingham for helping to rescue seven of the eight animals.
Bragg says Officer Collier located eight animals, one deceased and seven that were still alive, but showing signs of stress and extreme exhaustion. After Collier learned that DFO officials were unable to respond in a timely manner, he initiated a rescue of each of the animals that took three hours to complete.
Bragg says that’s when Collier jumped into action.
Many people saw pictures shared on social media of Collier, waist-deep in cold water, maneuvering a whale to return it back to the open ocean- a process he repeated seven times.