About 477 pilot whales have died following being stuck on two remote New Zealand beaches in recent days, officials said.
Darren Grover, general manager of Project Jonah, a non-profit charitable organization that helps rescue whales, said project activists were unable to re-float all the trapped whales, as they all died naturally or were euthanized. tragic loss.”
The whales dumped themselves on the Chatham Islands, which are home to regarding 600 people and are located 800 km east of New Zealand’s main islands.
New Zealand’s Department of Environmental Conservation said 232 whales were stranded on Friday at Tupuangi Beach, with another 245 whales in Waiheri Bay on Monday.
The accident comes two weeks following regarding 200 pilot whales died in Australia following they were stranded on a remote beach on the island of Tasmania.
“The remoteness of the accident site and the presence of sharks in the surrounding water makes it difficult for volunteers to try to refloat the whales as they did in previous stranding incidents,” Grover said.
“We are not actively refloating whales in the Chatham Islands due to the risk of shark attacks on humans and on the whales themselves, so euthanasia was the best option,” said Dave Lundquist, marine technical advisor in the Department of Environment Protection.
