BIG PINE KEY, Florida Keys – Last year’s mammoth volunteer effort, resulting in the recovery and release of five stranded pilot whales off the Florida Keys, is a featured part of an upcoming National Geographic Television special scheduled to air on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Wednesday, March 31, at 8 p.m. ET.

In South Florida, PBS is broadcast on WPBT. For other markets around the United States, check television listings for time and station.

“Whales in Crisis,” takes viewers from the Arctic to the Florida Keys, from Puget Sound to the South Pacific island of Tonga, to meet a new generation of whale warriors - men and women dedicated to studying and preserving the world’s remaining populations of these marine mammals, according to National Geographic producers.

The documentary examines four types of whales - pilots, humpbacks, bowheads and orcas - through the eyes of the humans closest to them.

On April 18, 2003, a pod of 28 pilot whales stranded near Big Pine Key. The return of five recovered animals to the ocean almost four months later came following a round-the-clock endeavor involving almost a thousand Keys resident and visitor volunteers. A convalescence center was established in semi-enclosed boat basin on Big Pine Key.

“The special recognizes the great work everybody in the Florida Keys did on behalf of the pilot whales,” said Robert Lingenfelser, president of the Marine Mammal Conservancy, one of two Florida Keys-based stranding organizations that spearheaded the project.

Much of the footage for the Keys pilot whales’ segment was shot by Bob Care, an Upper Keys-based videographer who began rolling tape during the first day of the stranding and lived with volunteers for most of the endeavor.

“It is very unusual to have a cameraman there at the beginning, stay throughout (the recovery and release),” said Denise Jackson, stranding coordinator for the Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team. “The documentary should really show the tremendous effort, because he was on site for so long.”

The Aug. 10, 2003, release of the whales captured worldwide attention through national and international media sources.

It marked the first time in the United States that five stranded whales were rehabilitated and released simultaneously, according to Laura Engleby, a marine biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries service.