Forty-three pilot whales have died after stranding on the Ngawi coast at the south-eastern tip of New Zealand's North Island. Conservation staff, volunteers and Maori community members could not save any of them. Protidiner Sangbad reports this, citing The Guardian and the country's Department of Conservation (DOC).
DOC said it was alerted shortly after 8am on Thursday and that the rescue started immediately. Heavy waves, sharp rocks and difficult tides meant the living whales could not be returned to deep water.
Ariana Hawaira, DOC's acting operations manager for Wairarapa, said none of the stranded whales appeared to be alive. Project Jonah, a conservation group that joined the rescue, said 40 to 50 whales stranded along several kilometres of coast, and that many died before help arrived.
DOC is working with the local Maori community on burying the carcasses. Maori regard whales as a sacred treasure, which they call taonga.
Pilot whales are members of the dolphin family and can reach seven metres in length and three tonnes in weight. New Zealand has recorded more than 5,000 such strandings of whales and dolphins since 1840. Scientists still do not know exactly why they come ashore in groups.
Photo: Chagai at English Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: Protidiner Sangbad
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