40 beached whales refloated in New Zealand but fears remain

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By NICK PERRY

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Volunteers in New Zealand successfully refloated 40 stranded whales on Monday evening but remained concerned they might beach themselves again overnight.

A pod of 49 long-finned pilot whales earlier stranded themselves on Farewell Spit, a remote beach on the South Island, according to authorities. Nine of the whales died.

Louisa Hawkes, a spokesperson for whale rescue group Project Jonah, said volunteers helped keep the whales cool and comfortable throughout the day by drenching them with buckets of water, keeping them upright and making sure they didn’t put too much pressure on their fins.

The evening high tide allowed them to refloat the whales, she said. The whales were spread out along the beach and one of their first tasks was to herd them together again in a pod. She said about 200 people, most of them volunteers, helped form a barrier as they moved the whales out to sea. Once in deeper water, boats took over and zipped back and forth in a line to prevent the whales from returning to shore.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/whales-asia-pacific-tides-new-zealand-07def068f617a588500c64d5dfcbe2be

[bucolic_frolic]

1. The bathtub is full of sewage

Wouldn't you try to escape?

[lagomorph777]

2. Global tragedy.

We need fewer people. And each of us must reduce our footprint.

[mpcamb]

3. It seems like there hasn't been any discussion of population control for decades.

It's about due.

[ratchiweenie]

4. Yeah!! Thank god they were spotted.

[Bayard]

5. Very glad they were saved

The volunteers are heroes.


Innocents continue to pay the price for human stupidity.

[Hekate]

6. Makes me wonder how many navies are experimenting with (can't recall the name) ultra-sonar...

The damn stuff (really apologize the accurate name is not on the tip of my tongue) is known to disturb cetaceans — whales and dolphins — and the US Navy has been using it. That is, every few years it resurfaces in the newspapers as something the military wants to do but it’s “controversial.” Then it drops out of the news for a couple of years. Which makes me think that military research goes on.

However, the US Navy is not the only actor. China is very active.

When scientists have been able to perform necropsies on beached dolphins or whales, ailments possibly connected to pollution are sometimes found.

[hack89]

7. NZ is so remote that it is unlikely navy sonar had anything to do with it

more than likely it was disease that caused this particular grounding.

That being said, in waters around the US, Asia and Europe you will find navies operating high powered sonar systems that are know to harm cetaceans.

[nwliberalkiwi]

8. New Zealand Beach

This has been an area that has seen several beach strandings in the past. Curious why this happens in this area?