Daily US Times: Almost 100 pilot whales have died in a mass stranding on New Zealand’s remote Chatham Islands.
Conservation officers said they were notified about the mass stranding on Sunday but by the time they reached the location, few of the animals were still alive.
In total, 97 whales and three dolphins have died at Waitangi West Beach.
It is not clear what caused the stranding on the islands, which are 800km east of New Zealand.
Jemma Welch, a ranger at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC), said in a statement that 26 stranded animals were put down because of rough sea conditions and the “almost certainty of there being great white sharks in the water which are brought in by a stranding like this.”
Members of the local Moriori and Maori communities performed a ceremony to honour the spirits of the whales, the department said.
Pilot whales can grow up to six metres (20ft) in length and they are one of the most common species of whale in New Zealand waters.
According to DOC, mass strandings are reasonably common on the Chatham Islands. In 1918, up to 1,000 whales were stranded on the islands – the largest incident of its kind in New Zealand.
The situation in New Zealand comes two months after one of the world’s largest recorded mass strandings, which left at least 380 whales dead on a beach in Tasmania, Australia.
It is not fully understood why the pilot whales became stranded but they are known to be more prone to getting beached.
You may read: ‘Australia’s worst stranding’ kills 380 whales
