‘They are our aumakua’

LIHUE — As Debbie Jackson stood near a dead pilot whale on Kalapaki Beach, she cried. She tried to hold back more tears.

“These are my brothers and sisters right here. They are our aumakua (family god),” the Kauai woman said Friday morning. “That’s my family laying there.”

Jackson was one of many upset, angry and heart-broken by the deaths of the whales.

“I just feel so helpless, for them, my family,” she said. “I can’t even give them a proper burial. The authorities are going to come and take them away and cut them up.”

Kumu Sabra Kauka led a brief prayer and blessing ceremony for the two whales that had died.

“They are family to us. They are ohana to us,” Kauka said. “They are guardian spirits. For this to happen to them is tremendously disturbing and very sad, extremely sad.”

Kauka has lived on Kauai more than 30 years.

“This has never happened before to this magnitude on this beach site, never,” she said. “We need to know why. I have my hunches and I have my concerns because what we as humans are doing to this earth, to this ocean.”

The blessing ceremony for the whales, she said, was to seek forgiveness.

“We apologize for what has happened to them, what is happening to them, for their death,” she said.

Fred Villa of Kauai, who tried to help the whales and spend time with them, was upset by what he saw.

“It’s unnecessary. It should never happen,” he said.

People must do better at caring for earth and ocean and the creatures that live in both, he said.

“A lot of things are getting built wheres there’s birds, plants, bugs, that no place else in the world has but Kauai. This is a very special place. We need to protect this place.”

There was confusion, pain and anger over what happened, he said, and the key now was to put that anger toward something positive.

“All of us coming together, as a community,” Villa said.

Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., who arrived at the scene, said it was a sad day.

“It’s terrible. It’s emotional,” he said. “I’ve never seen this happen and I don’t know why it’s happening.”

Carvalho vowed to do his best to find answers.

“As a Hawaiian, it’s important to me to stay connected culturally. As a mayor, it’s important to see what happened.”

He asked that people be patient and not let emotions run high.

“To the people, please stay calm. Let us do what we have to do. Our guys are on it,” he said.

Carvalho said it was troubling to see the whales shepherded out again and again, only to return to shore.

“Something is happening,” he said.

“They are one family, and it’s difficult to separate them. Somehow, they are coming back, and that’s the sad part.”