Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
A pod of 39 pilot whales died after stranding themselves at a remote beach on New Zealand's South Island, conservation officials said Monday.
The whales, which are notorious for beaching themselves, were being monitored after they were spotted close to the shore of Golden Bay on Sunday but rangers were powerless to stop them stranding, the Department of Conservation said.
Golden Bay conservation services manager John Mason said 12 of the whales died naturally and rangers euthanized the rest after assessing they were too far up the beach to be refloated.
"We carefully weighed up the likelihood of being able to refloat them and get them safely back out to sea," he said.
"But our staff, who have extensive experience in dealing with mass whale strandings in Golden Bay, determined that due to various factors it was unlikely they could be rescued."
Mass pilot whale strandings are common in New Zealand, with scientists unclear about why the marine mammals swim ashore in large groups.
© (c) 2014 AFP
6 Comments
Login to comment
BPoint
Well,,, the Japanese whaling fleet is in the neighborhood. They should swing by.......since all they're doing is "research" a little aging to the meat shouldn't make any difference.
globalwatcher
Hope this is not related to possible earthquakes in near future. I am crossing my fingers.
Elbuda Mexicano
@Global, my guess it IS RELATED to very possible earthquakes down there in New Zealand! A few years back, whales etc..were doing the same and a few wakes later horrible quakes in Christchurch etc...and up here in Japan, almost 3 years back, whales and dolphins were beaching themselves up in Ibaraki and??? Yes, all hell broke loose up in Fukushima, etc...
igloobuyer
bpoint
Yes, they just killed 4 whales why not use these 39 dead whales for their research?
globalwatcher
Elbuda MexicanoJan. 06, 2014 - 05:26PM JST
Too my understanding, Great Tokai Earthquake is well over due.
TumbleDry
"Who put that land here?"