New Zealand: Schools of sharks prevent rescue of 500 stranded dolphins

About 500 pilot dolphins have died in the remote Chatham archipelago, the government announced on Tuesday. The latter did not perform a rescue operation because of the remoteness of these islands infested with sharks.

The Department of Environmental Protection said two “large schools” of cetaceans were washed ashore and survivors were killed. About 250 experimental dolphins were found stuck on Friday on Chatham Island, the largest island in this archipelago, and about 240 dolphins on Pete Island, three days later, according to the same source.

The authorities said that due to the distance between this archipelago and New Zealand of about 800 km, the rescue operation was impossible. “For fear of shark attack on humans and cetaceans, the remaining experimental dolphins were killed by our team, to spare them further suffering,” said Dave Lundquist, the government’s marine technical advisor.

“A decision like this is never taken lightly, but in cases like this it is the easiest option,” he added. The corpses will be left at the site. These strands are no stranger to the Chatham Archipelago, with the largest dating back to 1918, when a thousand pilot dolphins perished.

A little over two weeks ago, there were about 200 experimental dolphins Died on a beach in Tasmania, in Australia. Forty-four mammals were released. The causes of these major leads are not fully known. These pilot whales, which can reach up to six meters in length, can swerve behind a sick member of the herd. Bad weather or the presence of predators can also force them to change course.

Official figures show that around 300 pilot dolphins are stranded in New Zealand each year. It is not uncommon for individual strandings to include groups of 20 to 50 cetaceans, or even hundreds when a large group of mammals are involved.