WARNING; The Photos Posted Below are VERY Upsetting !!!
Anguish as 240 MORE Whales are Stranded on a Remote Beach Just Hours After Rescuers Refloated 100 Survivors From an Earlier Group
- The incident is the worst of its kind in New Zealand's history
- More than 100 rescuers braved sharks and stingrays to form a human chain
- The 650 pilot whales all beached along a three-mile stretch of shore
Daily Mail Australia, 12 February 2017
The mass stranding of whales on a remote beach in New Zealand took a sad twist yesterday as a new pod of 240 whales swam aground.
The new group has taken the total number of whales beached on the shore to over 650, making it one of the worst incidents of its kind in New Zealand’s history.
The latest pod of whales were washed on the shore only hours after rescuers refloated 100 survivors from the earlier group of 416 stranded whales.
Dead Pilot whales line the shore after being stranded for a second time at the remote Farewell Spit in New Zealand
A volunteer pours water on pilot whales after anpother mass stranding at Farewell Spit, where 100 whales were refloated
During the refloating, more than 100 rescuers braved sharks and stingrays to form a human chain in neck-deep water to ensure the whales did not strand themselves on the same beach again.
Yesterday, volunteers – who had arrived from all over New Zealand – were heading back to the beach at Farewell Spit, in the northern tip of South Island, to help the new batch.
The 650 pilot whales all beached along a three-mile stretch of shore, with experts unsure as to what is causing them to swim to ground.
One theory is that the whales were attacked by sharks, as bite marks have been found on the bodies of some.
Volunteers try to guide some of the stranded pilot whales still alive back out to sea after one of the country's largest recorded mass whale strandings
The tragic decision has been made to euthanise 20 pilot whales that have washed ashore again at Farewell Spit
The call has gone out on Saturday evening for volunteers to head to take wet suits, buckets and sheets to a new locations on the spit at the top of the South Island
However, other experts said the presence of so many calves and mothers suggested the stranding is linked to seasonal migration.
New Zealand authorities have revealed 335 whales are dead, of which 20 were euthanised because of their poor condition. Last night, around 200 whales remained stranded as darkness fell and rescuers had to suspend attempts to refloat them.
Experts are sure yesterday’s beaching was of a new pod, as all the whales refloated on Friday were tagged.
About 75 per cent were dead on discovery but since then hundreds of volunteers have worked to refloat whales at high tides
Before a rescue operation could begin, around 275 of the adults and babies had already died
They were found of a beach at Farewell Strip on the South Island, a protruding coastline with gently sloping beaches
.