Residents of the community of Gambo, in central Newfoundland, worked together Monday to help a stranded whale beached on a bed of rocks.

People had been watching the pilot whale swim in the waters of Gambo Pond for days. However, at some point it left the water and moved onto a bed of rocks along the shoreline.

Graham Thompson said it was a sad sight watching the stranded whale.

"The water was lowering … you could see its fins, the top of his back, and then you could almost see all of its body," said Thompson.

Bryan McKay, a member of the rescue team, said residents decided they had to take action when they saw that the whale couldn't get itself away from the rocks.

"It was too heavy to get off the rocks," he said, "so our crew and the fire department went in and took a hose and removed the whale so it could get out into deeper water."

Whale expert Wayne Ledwell, of the Whale Release and Strandings Group, said rescuers used a Zodiac boat to corral the whale in to the deeper waters of Freshwater Bay.

It worked, but Ledwell said they can't be certain whale won't return.

"Once they go ashore on a beach, or have decided to go ashore on a beach, when they have the choice to stay in open water," he said, "then the animal has obviously got some problems."