Nature & Environment
Over 200 Whales Survive Stranding In New Zealand
Brooke James
First Posted: Feb 13, 2017 03:40 AM EST
In New Zealand, it was a week of heartbreak when over 650 pilot whales were found to have beached themselves on two different instances in Farewell Spit. There were over 350 of them dying on the thin strip of land in the past few days.
However, not it seems that there is a silver lining to the tragedy. According to NPR.org, volunteer rescuers left the beach Saturday night with hundreds of whales from the second stranding still ashore. But they returned early the following day to only 17 on the beach -- the others are expected to have swam back into the ocean.
Herb Christophers, a spokesman for the Department of Conservation (DOC), told Reuters, "We had 240 whales strand yesterday in the afternoon and we were fearful we were going to end up with 240 dead whales this morning. That isn't the case, however, because it seems that they have "self-rescued," which Christophers took to mean that they floated off and swam out to sea when the tide came in that night.
By high tide on Sunday, the volunteers managed to send the remaining 17 whales back to sea, which were said to then have rejoined their large pod of over 200 whales about a mile off the shore. The Department of Conservation in New Zealand noted that this is a remarkable twist of events, as they have put out an urgent call for help to keep the whales alive. However, by Sunday, there were no need for volunteers.
The initial stranding was discovered earlier last week, putting over 400 whales on Farewell Spit. Although the area was a notorious whale trap, few people were able to see one of such massive scope, as it was tagged as the third largest whale beaching to have ever been seen in the country.
A wide range of reasons could have put the whales on the thin strip of land at shore, including disorientation by sonar blasts, odd land masses or as a way to protect injured members of whale pods. However, nobody knows the exact reason for the latest mass stranding.
According to Associated Press, Andrew Lamason, another spokesman for the DOC said that work is still to continue. Whale corpses will have to be "buried" by tethering them to stakes in the shallow water to prevent them from floating into bays or near people's homes.
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Feb 13, 2017 03:40 AM EST
In New Zealand, it was a week of heartbreak when over 650 pilot whales were found to have beached themselves on two different instances in Farewell Spit. There were over 350 of them dying on the thin strip of land in the past few days.
However, not it seems that there is a silver lining to the tragedy. According to NPR.org, volunteer rescuers left the beach Saturday night with hundreds of whales from the second stranding still ashore. But they returned early the following day to only 17 on the beach -- the others are expected to have swam back into the ocean.
Herb Christophers, a spokesman for the Department of Conservation (DOC), told Reuters, "We had 240 whales strand yesterday in the afternoon and we were fearful we were going to end up with 240 dead whales this morning. That isn't the case, however, because it seems that they have "self-rescued," which Christophers took to mean that they floated off and swam out to sea when the tide came in that night.
By high tide on Sunday, the volunteers managed to send the remaining 17 whales back to sea, which were said to then have rejoined their large pod of over 200 whales about a mile off the shore. The Department of Conservation in New Zealand noted that this is a remarkable twist of events, as they have put out an urgent call for help to keep the whales alive. However, by Sunday, there were no need for volunteers.
The initial stranding was discovered earlier last week, putting over 400 whales on Farewell Spit. Although the area was a notorious whale trap, few people were able to see one of such massive scope, as it was tagged as the third largest whale beaching to have ever been seen in the country.
A wide range of reasons could have put the whales on the thin strip of land at shore, including disorientation by sonar blasts, odd land masses or as a way to protect injured members of whale pods. However, nobody knows the exact reason for the latest mass stranding.
According to Associated Press, Andrew Lamason, another spokesman for the DOC said that work is still to continue. Whale corpses will have to be "buried" by tethering them to stakes in the shallow water to prevent them from floating into bays or near people's homes.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone