250 pioneer whales die after being washed ashore in New Zealand

PARIS, October 8 (Benin News) –

About 250 pioneer whales have died after being washed up on a beach in New Zealand’s Chatham Islands, the Department of Conservation has confirmed.

New Zealand’s Stuff news portal quoted the ministry as saying that the whales were alive, but could not be released, and most had been euthanized.

A spokesperson for the agency said: “We have not been successful in saving whales in the Chatham Islands due to the risk of sharks attacking both humans and the whales themselves.” “The surviving whales were killed by the professional team to spare them more suffering,” he added.

The whale carcasses were left on the beaches for a natural decomposition process.

Project Johan, a marine mammal rescue NGO, posted information about 215 stranded whales on Facebook, but also acknowledged the impossibility of saving them.

“The Chatham Islands is a difficult place for interventions. They are known for their great white sharks, inaccessible beaches and a population of less than 800 people (…). The group posted on Facebook.

The Chatham Islands are often the scene of stranded whale deaths. In 1918, the largest such event was recorded in which about 1,000 pilot whales died. In 2018, 51 pioneer whales died after being stranded in Hanson Bay. About thirty of them managed to return to the sea by their own means.

In 2017, about 600 whales were stranded at Farewell Spit on New Zealand’s South Island, and the military, volunteers and Project Jonah were able to rescue about 400.