Following major strandings throughout the previous week, about 500 pilot whales perished on the Chatham Islands in New Zealand.
According to the New Zealand Department of Conservation, a pod of around 240 pilot whales became stranded on the northwest edge of the Chatham Islands on Friday. At Waihere Bay on the isolated Pitt Island, approximately 25 miles south of the first stranding, another 240 pilot whales werehed up on the shore on Monday.
Local whale rescue group Project Jonah received confirmation from the conservation department that a total of 477 whales perished in the strandings.
The Department of Conservation said on Facebook on Wednesday that “in both stranding episodes there were several whales that were dead on arrival, with the remaining animals needing to be killed, to limit their suffering.” Despite the fact that the incidents weren’t unusual, any death is tragic, particularly one of this size.
Greater stranding occurrences have occurred in the Chatham Islands previously; in 1918, the conservation agency estimated that 1,000 beached whales washed up there.
Shark attacks on rescuers and the whales might result in the Department of Conservation not attempting to refloat beached whales, according to adviser Dave Lundquist. Euthanizing the beached whales was thus the “kindest course of action,” according to Lundquist.
The deceased whales’ remains would be left on the coast to properly degrade, Lundquist stated.
Tuesday’s whale strandings, according to Project Jonah, are among the largest beachings the group has ever seen.
“Strandings are a complicated phenomenon, often caused by a number of variables. Scientists are attempting to comprehend it since it has been occurring from the beginning of time “The group posted something on Facebook.
Because the beaches are so far away, Project Jonah’s general manager Daren Grove told CNN that saving the whales was very challenging. Only 660 people live in the Chatham Islands, which are located around 500 miles from New Zealand’s major islands.
He described the loss of 477 whales as “heartbreaking” in a separate interview with the Associated Press.
Whales may have been confused when foraging in the seas near the islands, according to Grover, who spoke to the AP.
They depend on their echolocation, but it doesn’t alert them when they are low on water, according to Grover, who spoke to the AP. “They grow lost as they go closer to the coast. The tide may then turn against them, leaving them trapped on the beach before they realize it.”
These whale strandings in New Zealand occur only a few weeks after a super pod of 200 whales was discovered beached in Tasmania, Australia, during a mass stranding incident.