Whale Patrol

Whale Patrol follows the remarkable and perilous journey of close to 17,000 humpback whales as they leave their summer feeding grounds in the Antarctic to breeding sites in tropical waters off the west coast of Australia. It’s a journey whales have been making for thousands of years, and it’s fraught with danger. While the encroaching winter storms can wreak havoc of their own, the whales’ greatest threat is man-made – a potentially-fatal obstacle course of nets, buoys and ropes. Entanglement can mean a slow and painful death for a humpback whale – but thankfully, an elite team of wildlife officers lead by whale rescue veteran Doug Coughran are on alert. They are, the Whale Patrol.

 

With breathtaking whale footage and unprecedented access to a whale disentanglement crew. Whale Patrol is an exhilarating and moving story of the fight to protect the migrating whale population off the coast of Western Australia.

Director: Leighton De Barros

Leighton De Barros is an award winning cinematographer and director, with clients from ‘Survivor’ on CBS America, to the BBC Natural History Unit & independent production companies producing films for Discovery, Animal Planet and National Geographic. With a string of awards, including four Emmy Award Nominations for Cinematography, he is committed to the pursuit of excellence in his chosen field. Leighton is passionate about Australian wildlife and has worked on many projects filming dolphins, whales and other Australian native wildlife over the last fifteen years. Leighton has produced and directed Whale Patrol for ABC TV and National Geographic TV International and in the past he produced a half hour wildlife/adventure program titled Shark Bay in association with the ABC Natural History Unit, which he also wrote, shot and directed. Leighton is developing other wildlife projects and his company is exploring new media, including an animated interactive web-based experience about dolphins.

Australia
2009
52 Min.
English
6
Director: Leighton De Barros
Script: Michael Bright
Cinematography: Leighton De Barros
Editing: Ian Carmichael
Music: Tim Count, Keith Van Gyzel
Narrator: Catherine McClements
Editor: Ian Carmichael
Website URL: www.whalepatrol.com/