The assistants pushed 28 stuck flying whales out to sea
On the coast of New Zealand
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The assistants pushed 28 stuck flying whales out to sea
After a second stranding off New Zealand, 28 pioneer whales were returned to deeper waters. Photo: Jonah Project / dpa
Image: dpa / –
Wellington In New Zealand, 28 flying whales found their way to the sea with the help of animal rights activists. The animals belong to a group of about 50 flying whales that were stranded on the tongue on Monday.
“The whales were never stranded again overnight, so it appears to be a success at the moment,” aides from Project Jonah Animal Welfare said Wednesday. After an initial rescue two days earlier, the animals are again stranded on top of the Farewell Spit in the far north of New Zealand’s South Island.
The animals belong to a group of about 50 flying whales that were stranded on the tongue on Monday. Aides pushed about 40 of them into the sea on Monday evening. However, the pilot’s whales were stranded again Tuesday morning. Animal carcasses that did not survive will now be blessed by the local Maori tribe in a ceremony.
In the Farewell Spit, which is located about 90 kilometers northwest of the tourist city of Nelson, there have been at least ten mass delinquencies in the past 15 years. Most recently, about 700 whales were stranded there in February 2017, of whom 250 died.
Scientists are baffled as to why such fatal accidents continue to occur on the tongue. According to one theory, the reason could be that the water at this stage is particularly shallow, which disrupts the sound of the animals’ bion.