Waltzing Matilda

Future and Salvation?

The recurring thought. If Matilda doesn’t manage to free herself on her own or with the help of man, her fate is sealed, that rope will slowly cut her fin to the bone, will expose her to infections leading to certain death, since a whale cannot live without one of its lateral fins. She will sink, slowly, wondering “why”, and then slowly disappear, forever on the ocean floor.

I sleep with this thought, the next morning I don’t find Mark, but Christine, another Guide, to whom I immediately talk about Matilda showing her the photos, almost certain that she already knew. In fact it is so, she has seen Mark’s photos, says that they are beautiful and terrible, and that him also noticed it immediately after returning to port. I tell her that, thinking back, I believe that the show was nothing more than a cry for help, or at least it was in part, and she confirms that it’s possible “Whales are extremely intelligent and sensitive animals, it’s a plausible hypothesis”.

She also tells me that they immediately alerted the “Rescue Unit”, a team specialized in rescuing cetaceans and other marine animals in difficulty and that they hope to be able to find her and help her. The difficulties are extreme, first of all finding her, because there is no guarantee that she is still in the area, then approaching her (or rather, hoping that she will let you approach her) and sailing alongside her with the boat and, finally, with a knife trying to cut the rope. All with a 40-ton animal alongside, in motion. Extreme difficulty coefficient. The answer to the question you are about to ask yourself and me is “no”, she cannot be narcotized as would do with a land animal or a bird. For those who (yet) don’t know, whales are mammals, they breathe oxygen, air, like us, if you narcotize it in water it would sink without being able to breathe, thus ending up drowning. So everything must be done in motion.

To date I have no updates on Matilda’s fate, I’m waiting for the guys from Newport to let me know something, hopefully positive. If so, I will add a note to this story.

I’m not here to teach anyone anything, but from this story I have learned yet another lesson for myself. In addition to the confirmation that we, humans, are the real cancer of the planet. I have understood that even something apparently unlikely, if not statistically impossible, like a tiny rope in the world largest ocean, can encounter an animal, also tiny compared to the vastness of the ocean, and hurt it seriously, if not irreparably.

Think about it very carefully when you have any object or waste to dispose of. We depend on our Oceans, on their currents, on the food they give us, on their influence on the climate. Whales are, like all living beings, part of a unique but also incredibly fragile ecosystem, they are a fundamental and irreplaceable part of it and we must respect and protect them, especially from ourselves.

(Copyright Marco Redaelli 2025. Feel free to share, but please credit me)