|
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Tuesday, June 13, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Glacier Bay NP&P Humpback Whale Rescued On June 6th, the operator of an NPS pilot boat reported seeing a humpback whale swimming on the surface near Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay. Entangled in its tail was a line with a buoy attached to a sport fishing crab pot. The whale was able to swim slowly and covered a distance of several miles despite the fact that the line was still dragging a crab pot weighing approximately 80 pounds. Attempts to free the entangled whale by a trained Park Service disentanglement team were unsuccessful. Special cutting tools and long-handled equipment were used by staff to attempt to cut the line off the whale, which continued to move through the water at approximately three knots. Darkness forced team members to end their efforts, but not before attaching two highly visible marker buoys to the lines trailing behind the whale. Air and sea searches for the animal turned up nothing on the following day. On Thursday, June 8th, observers on a passing vessel reported seeing buoys matching the description of the marker buoys near the entrance to Geikie Inlet on the west side of Glacier Bay. Responding park biologists positively identified the buoys as being those that had been attached to the whale. They were able to pull up all gear, including buoys, lines, and the crab pot (containing three crabs) intact. It's believed that the whale was able to free itself from the gear. Biologists will continue to monitor whale populations in the bay and attempt to identify and observe the condition of this particular whale. The three crabs were released, having circumnavigated nearly half the waters of Glacier Bay on what must have been the wildest ride of their lives. [Chuck Young, Chief Ranger] Hot Springs NP Confrontation Results in Use of Taser On the evening of May 25th, a ranger was dispatched to check out a report of a man passed out on the Canyon trail. When he arrived on scene, he found the man lying by the side of a trail and employed a sternal rub to rouse him. When the ranger told him that he was under arrest for public intoxication and ordered him to stay on the ground, the man instead began to resist the ranger. The ranger called for backup and twice struck the man with his baton. When the second ranger arrived, he told the man that he had to quit resisting or would be tasered. When the man failed to comply, the second ranger used his taser. The man was then taken into custody. He attempted to kick and spit at the rangers and refused to enter the patrol car. The ranger then stunned the man with his taser. The man was taken to the Garland County sheriff's office, where it took the efforts of four booking officers to get him into a holding cell. The man was charged with public intoxication and interference with agency function. This was the second time in three weeks that rangers have used tasers to subdue violent, intoxicated people. [Dennis Stock, Chief Ranger] Gettysburg NMP Suicide Near Culp's Hill Rangers received a call from Gettysburg PD on the afternoon of June 8th, reporting that an NCIC check on a vehicle parked on Slocum Avenue near Culp's Hill had come back as registered to a person from Sterling, Virginia, who was reportedly suicidal. Based on this information, rangers, Gettysburg PD officers and members of Gettysburg FD conducted a hasty search of the area and soon found a body in the woods about 75 yards north of the avenue. The cause of death was evidently a self-inflicted gunshot wound; a 9mm Glock was found nearby. [Randy Phiel, Park Ranger] Lake Mead NRA Las Vegas Man Drowns in Lake Park dispatch received a call on the afternoon of June 10th reporting that a 24-year-old Las Vegas man had gone into the water near Government Wash and failed to resurface. According to witnesses, the man could not swim and was not wearing a life jacket. Rangers and state game wardens responded, but were unable to find him. The park dive team was therefore called in and recovered his body about two hours after the initial report. This was the 13th fatality at Lake Mead NRA this calendar year. [Roxanne Dey, Public Affairs Specialist] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/): New provision for policy on location fees for filming and photography: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=PressReleases&id=658" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=PressReleases&id=658 HFC announcement on restructuring: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4496" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4496 SER hurricane website updated: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4540" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4540 * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |