Why didn't they just airlift them out of the ice/water?
They'd rather use helicopters to transport an ice breaker instead of just wrapping a tarp around the whales and lifting them to the ocean?
shareWhales are intelligent enough to know when someone is trying to help them, but I imagine they would still draw the line at someone bundling them in to a sack and carrying them. Not to mention that if a whale decided to thrash it's tail in the cradle carrying it the helicopter would likely crash.
Ya Kirk-loving Spocksucker!