Benician awarded for work helping entangled whales

A Benicia resident and wildlife artist who developed a new and less invasive method of freeing entangled whales is a 2015 recipient of the Animal Welfare Institute’s annual Christine Stevens Wildlife Award, said Amey Owen, the Institute’s public relations coordinator.

Pieter Arend Folkens, one of the founding members of the Alaska Whale Foundation, is one of five recipients of the award, Owen said.

The others are Dr. Brian Darby of the University of North Dakota, for new research on non-invasive methods to monitor polar bears; Kristine Inman of the Wildlife Conservation Society, for research to create and test wildlife-friendly fencing; Dr. Mary Beth Manjerovic of the Lincoln Park Zoo, for new research on non-invasive methods to monitor amphibian health and stress; and Dr. Christine Sheppard of the American Bird Conservancy, for developing a new method to test glass samples to reduce bird collisions.

“It is our pleasure to provide support for scientific endeavors that seek to address conflicts between humans and wildlife in a manner that does not require the suffering and death of animals,” said Cathy Liss, president of AWI. “We will follow the recipients’ work with keen interest.”

Folkens has been involved in whale and other animal entanglement rescues since the 1970s.

When a humpback whale, tangled in fishing gear, was spotted near Monterey in November 2014, he was among those called to the rescue.

Dealing with such large creatures is risky, and Folkens’s crew first had to let the 50-foot animal adjust to the presence of their watercraft.

They saw that the line was twisting the whale’s head and pulling it down. In addition, the line went through the whale’s mouth as if it were a bridle and bit.

Another 300 feet of shrimp line trailed behind the whale, and some of the fishing line was still fastened to the ocean bottom.

Such rescues can take days, sometimes weeks, so Folkens’s team often attaches telemetry buoys to the whale, so it can be tracked.

Using ropes and a trident cutter, Folkens and his team managed to get the whale free from some of the line, and as the team tracked down the animal weeks later, they saw the whale had freed itself of the rest of the cable.

Not all rescue attempts have happy endings, though.

While in the midst of that rescue, another tangled humpback was spotted, this one with line wrapped around its mouth. It had been so long since the animal had eaten, rescuers could see its ribs. But rescuers couldn’t attach any telemetry to the whale, and it was never seen afterward.

Among Folkens’s accomplishments cited by AWI is modeling marine animals for motion pictures, including several “Free Willy” movies and “Star Trek IV,” which focused on the rescue of two whales.

Folkens also is a Smithsonian Institution-trained natural science artist and illustrator, and he has been a field naturalist for the Oceanic Society and National Marine Mammal Laboratory.

He also is a published author and former Herald contributor.

Established in 2006, the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award provides grants of up to $10,000 to help fund innovative strategies for humane, non-lethal wildlife conflict management and study.

A grant program named in honor of AWI’s late founder and president for more than 50 years, the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award was established to encourage new generations of compassionate wildlife scientists, managers and advocates, Owen said.

For more than 50 years, Stevens dedicated her life to reducing animal suffering both here and abroad, Owen said.

She founded AWI in 1951 to end the cruel treatment of animals in experimental laboratories. Her work expanded to take on other animal welfare causes, including preventing animal extinctions and reforming methods used to raise animals for food, banning steel-jaw leghold traps, ending commercial whaling, and other causes.