Nearly 100 whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand

Pilot whales stranded on a beach in Chatham Islands, New Zealand, on Tuesday
SAD END: Pilot whales stranded on a beach in Chatham Islands, New Zealand, on Tuesday
Image: JEMMA WELCH

About 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins have died in a mass stranding on the remote Chatham Islands, about 800km off New Zealand’s east coast, officials said on Wednesday.

Most were stranded during the weekend, but rescue efforts have been hampered by the remote location of the islands.

New Zealand’s department of conservation (DOC) said in total 97 pilot whales and three dolphins had died in the stranding, adding that they had been notified of the incident on Sunday.

“Only 26 of the whales were still alive at this point, the majority of them appearing very weak, and they were euthanised due to the rough sea conditions and almost certainty of there being great white sharks in the water which are brought in by a stranding like this,” DOC biodiversity ranger Jemma Welch said.

Mass strandings are reasonably common on the Chatham Islands, and up to 1,000 animals died in a single stranding in 1918.

Mass whale strandings have occurred throughout recorded modern history, and why it happens is a question that has puzzled marine biologists for years.

In late September, several hundred whales died in shallow waters off the Australian coast in one of the world’s biggest mass whale strandings.

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