Authorities and ordinary folks work together, succeed in rescuing it

Dec 27, 2012 08:33 GMT  ·  By

Local authorities and ordinary folks in Breezy Point, Queens were recently left with no choice except work around the clock in order to rescue a fin whale which beached in this part of the US this past Wednesday morning.

Apparently, the marine mammal was first spotted by a 66-year-old resident, who first mistook the animal for a capsized boat, sources report.

“I saw just the top of it. It looked like a capsized upside-down boat. I thought maybe it's my boat. Then I saw the tail jump up out of the water, and the spout of water. I realized it was a whale,” Louis Bassolino recollects.

Since Wednesday morning until late in the evening, fire fighters and volunteers kept throwing buckets of water at the distressed animal, hoping to give it a fighting chance. At one point, they switched to using a water pump.

Once the tide rises, volunteers hope that the whale could be sent on its way. However, some say that the animal is simply too sick and too emaciated to survive in the wild.