Beach of death
Horrific fate of 145 pilot whales found stranded
SCHOOLS of whales lie dead after being stranded on a remote beach.
In two groups, 70 showed no sign of life and another 75 had to be put down.
The pilot whales, which grow up to 21ft long and live to 45 years – were discovered on Rakiura, off the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island. Conservationist Ren Leppens said: “You feel for the animals, it’s just a really sad event.
“It’s the kind of thing you don’t want to see. You wish you could understand the reasoning why the whales strand, so you could intervene.”
The decision to put down 70 of the animals was due to their poor condition and remote location.
Only about 375 people live on Rakiura, also known as Stewart Island, and the whales were found at Mason’s Bay, about 22 miles from the main township of Oban.