240 pioneer whales die after stranded on New Zealand island
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – About 240 pilot whales washed up on New Zealand’s Pitt Island in the South Pacific have died, some of them euthanized, the New Zealand Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.
A few days before that, 215 cetaceans died on neighboring Chatham Island, a frequent phenomenon in this geographical area, to this day unexplained.
DOC official Dave Lundquist said in an email that the DOC team assessed the situation on Monday and decided to euthanize the remaining whales on Pete.
He stressed that “this decision is not taken lightly, but in such cases it is the softest option.”
Trapped whales are not released in this area due to the presence of sharks that are dangerous to humans and mammals.
The Pete and Chatham Islands, which make up the Chatham Islands archipelago, lie near the confluence of subtropical and subarctic waters, providing whales with abundant marine wildlife, says Darren Grover, chief executive of the NGO Project Jonah, which takes care of stranded people . whales;
(Reporting by Lucy Kramer, French version by Lina Golovnia, Editing by Sophie Lewitt)
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