CNN
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Lots of of pilot whales have died after turning into stranded close to the shark-infested waters of a distant island chain within the South Pacific, in line with rescue groups and conservationists.
New Zealand’s Division of Conservation informed CNN practically 500 whales washed up within the Chatham Islands, 840 kilometers (520 miles) east of the principle South Island, in two separate mass stranding occasions reported by residents over the weekend.
Dave Lundquist, a marine technical adviser for the division, mentioned it doesn’t try and refloat stranded whales within the space as a result of threat of shark assaults to each individuals and the whales. The surviving whales had been euthanized to forestall additional struggling, he mentioned.
“This determination is rarely taken calmly, however in instances like this it’s the kindest possibility,” Lundquist mentioned.
Daren Grover, basic supervisor of rescue group Mission Jonah, mentioned a lot of the pilot whales had been already lifeless once they got here ashore, and the survivors had been ill.
“Having such a excessive variety of whales in a single location is uncommon, nevertheless it’s definitely not unparalleled,” he mentioned.
Along with the chance posed by sharks, it was “nearly unattainable” for rescue groups to journey to the Chatham Islands on quick discover, he mentioned, compounding the problem of saving the whales.
The mass stranding incident comes lower than a month after about 200 pilot whales died on the coast of Tasmania in Australia.
It’s widespread for pilot whales to grow to be stranded however the conduct shouldn’t be properly understood, in line with the Division of Conservation. Most scientists imagine that particular person whales strand as a result of they’re diseased and coming to the tip of their pure lifespan.
The Chatham Islands, that are house to about 600 individuals, are among the many high three “stranding hotspots” in New Zealand. In 1918, the archipelago noticed the largest recorded stranding within the nation of about 1,000 pilot whales, in line with the division.
