145 whales die in mass Stewart Island stranding
As many as 145 pilot whales have died after a mass stranding in Mason Bay on Stewart Island.
A hiker reportedly spotted the whales on Saturday and notified Department of Conservation staff at 10.30pm. Two pods were stranded at the southern end of Mason Bay, about 2km apart.
DoC Rakiura operations manager Ren Leppens said half the whales had already died by the time they were found and due to the condition of the remaining whales and the remote, difficult to access location, it was decided to euthanise them.
“Sadly, the likelihood of being able to successfully refloat the remaining whales was extremely low,” Leppens said. “The remote location, lack of nearby personnel and the whales’ deteriorating condition meant the most humane thing to do was to euthanise.
“However, it’s always a heartbreaking decision to make.”
Marine mammal strandings are a relatively common occurrence on New Zealand shores, with DoC responding to an average 85 incidents a year — mostly of single animals.
At the other end of the country, in the Far North, rescuers will today attempt to refloat eight surviving pygmy whales at a beach 20km away and on the opposite coast from where they stranded two days earlier.
The pygmy killer whales, in fact a rare type of oceanic dolphin, were found along a 6km stretch of Ninety Mile Beach between Te Paki Stream and the Bluff on Sunday evening.
Two had to be euthanised but rescuers saved the rest by turning them upright, moving them above the high-tide mark and keeping them cool and wet.
DoC spokeswoman Abigail Monteith said the pygmy whales were taken on trailers late on Monday via State Highway 1 to Rarawa Beach on the east coast, about 20km away.
It was the second stranding in the Far North in three days after a 15m sperm whale died on Tokeroa Beach on Saturday.
It had washed ashore on Friday. The two Far North strandings are unlikely to be related.