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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – More than 140 pilot whales have died after being stranded in southern New Zealand, half of them having been euthanized by conservationists after a decision "extremely sad" after their discovery, revealed Monday officials.
The grounding, in an isolated part of Stewart Island, off the south coast of the island, was the largest in New Zealand since the death of 250 pilot whales killed one of the worst of this type in the world. history of this country.
The stranded whales on Stewart Island were found in two distinct groups, or pods, as were several other whale deaths and strandings reported in the country over the weekend.
The Department of Conservation announced Monday that as many as 145 whales stranded at Mason Bay in the western part of the island, where they were discovered by a hiker on Saturday afternoon.
Ren Leppens, the department's operations manager for the island, said the hiker had walked "two to three hours" to alert the conservation staff. Half of the whales were already dead when the rangers reached both groups, leaving the rest to euthanasia.
"It's very sad," said Leppens, adding that the whales, which could have been blocked as early as Friday, had "begun to cover themselves with sand" by the time they were found. Due to bad weather, the experts could not be sent by plane to assess the situation. Therefore, their euthanasia was the only possible option, he said.
Mr. Leppens said the beach was the site of three previous ground strandings. More than 300 whales stranded near Mason Bay in 1998.
The Department of Conservation has stated that events would occur when whales make navigational errors by hunting their prey, fleeing predators, or trying to protect diseased members of the group, but more than one factor could occur. contribute to it.
Last February, 250 whales died after hundreds of people stranded at Farewell Spit, one of New Zealand's most frequent whale strandings. They died after 500 rescuers frantically attempted to bail out the animals.
Krista Hupman, marine mammal biologist for the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, said whale protection groups are closely monitoring Farewell Spit and are ready to bring together relief teams in the near future, while the animals appeared to swim towards the coast.
"But without this first observation, we have no chance," she said, evoking the remoteness of the failure of Stewart Island, home to only 402 people.
Across the country, the rescuers of Ninety Mile Beach, near the northern tip of the North Island, have deferred their efforts to bail out up to eight or so pygmy orca whales stranded to the ground. 39 to Tuesday due to bad weather. Four whales had died on the beach on Monday. Two other whales have been stranded elsewhere in New Zealand, officials said.
The Department of Conservation said the deaths were "unlikely," and Hulman, a whale biologist, said strandings were common in New Zealand at this time of year.
Although we know that New Zealand has an unusually high number of whale strandings, scientists did not know why they were so common, why, or if bailing the animals was the best way to react.
Mr. Leppens, Operations Manager in the Department of Conservation, said this remote location meant conservation staff let whales on the beach break down and "let nature take its course."
But the exact circumstances of the grounding remained a mystery.
"The sooner technology can move forward and give us a better idea of why this happens, the better," he said.
