Eight dolphins refloated

Eight common dolphins from a pod of 10 beached on Waiheke Island had been refloated and were swimming back out to sea, the Department of Conservation said last night.

One adult dolphin and a calf died yesterday after the mass stranding at Whakanewha Bay.

The remaining juvenile dolphin returned to deeper water shortly before 4pm. It was monitored by Project Jonah and was seen heading back out into the Hauraki Gulf.

DoC’s Auckland inner islands operations manager, Emma Kearney, said efforts to refloat the other dolphins and shepherd them out to sea continued after 4pm.

“As of 4.40pm, the remaining dolphins had been successfully refloated, and had left the bay and were last seen heading out to deeper water.” High tide was 7.26pm.

The two dead dolphins were being taken to Massey University for necropsies.

DoC staff, working with Project Jonah, Ngāti Paoa and members of the Waiheke community, tried to make the dolphins comfortable with a view to refloating them if possible.

DoC said the stranding site would be checked this morning in case the animals restranded overnight.

The next high tide at Whakanewha Bay is about 7.47am today.

Scores of locals turned out to help save the mammals yesterday.

A local resident livestreaming the rescue effort said there appeared to be a number of juvenile dolphins with their parents.

Locals were dousing the animals in water and covering them with wet towels and large fern fronds.

The dolphins were beached across hundreds of metres after low tide yesterday morning.