2009-12-29
SOME 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after stranding on the beach over the weekend - but tourists and conservation workers managed to coax 43 others back out to sea on Sunday.
Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by yesterday morning they were well out to sea.
Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide.
The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day. "Some 63 pilot whales stranded but it looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones," Department of Conservation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod swam out to sea.
Bolten said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbor and they couldn't find their way out again.
Meanwhile, on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died on Saturday, conservation officials said yesterday.
Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.
SOME 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after stranding on the beach over the weekend - but tourists and conservation workers managed to coax 43 others back out to sea on Sunday.
Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by yesterday morning they were well out to sea.
Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide.
The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day. "Some 63 pilot whales stranded but it looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones," Department of Conservation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod swam out to sea.
Bolten said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbor and they couldn't find their way out again.
Meanwhile, on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died on Saturday, conservation officials said yesterday.
Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.
