KEALAKEKUA BAY — It was another morning Derrick Carvalho just planned to relax at Kealakekua Bay on Wednesday when he spotted something peculiar. Something was swimming in circles offshore, struggling to stay afloat.
Upon further examination, he was surprised to spot a bewildered boar, fighting to keep its flailing body above the surface.
It didn’t seem like there was much fight left in the animal, either. Thrashing around 75 feet from shore, at times only its snout poked above the surface.
“It looked tired,” Carvalho said.
Jim and Jane Pittenger, visiting from Florence, Ore., were next to happen on the scene.
“Clearly disoriented,” Jim Pittenger said, recalling that the boar’s head sunk lower with each turn. When the boar tried to swim toward land, it retreated, seemingly afraid of the surf. There also were times when its entire head was under water.
“There’s nothing like watching an animal slowly drown,” he said. “It’s such a sad and pathetic experience, getting sadder and sadder.”
That’s when local artist Tamara Tavernier, also known as “Rainbow,” joined the beach crowd around 7:30 a.m., a half-hour or so after Carvalho first noticed the animal.
Carvalho, who knew Rainbow was an avid swimmer from the area, asked if she could save it. After viewing the boar through binoculars, Rainbow swam out with a rope, approaching the animal head on.
Upon her approach, the boar thrashed and backed away in fear. That’s when Rainbow opted for a second strategy, circling behind the boar and imitating a shark by charging at it with speed.
“It looked like she was very clear with what she was doing,” Jim Pittenger said.
Jane Pittenger snapped photos of the rescue.
“He was more scared of me than the surf,” Rainbow said. “I made myself the biggest fear.”
As Rainbow rushed through the water close behind the animal, the boar swam to the rocks on the shoreline.
The Pittengers and Carvalho greeted Rainbow and the boar with applause as they reached dry land, after which the animal promptly scurried into the brush.
“Without a word of thanks,” Jim Pittenger joked.
Rainbow said this was not the first animal she’s saved, recounting rescues of turtles, a dolphin and shark from nets and fishing lines in the past.
“I would save anything. With animals, I have no fear,” Rainbow said. “I felt good after. It’s always good to save a life.”