500 pilot whales die in mass strandings on New Zealand’s remote Chatham Islands

CNN
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Hundreds of pilot whales have died after being stranded near shark-infested waters on a remote island chain in the South Pacific, according to rescue teams and conservationists.

Nearly 500 whales have been washed up in the Chatham Islands, 840 kilometers (520 miles) east of the main South Island, in two separate mass stranding events reported by residents over the weekend, the New Zealand Ministry of Protection told CNN.

Dave Lundquist, the department’s marine technical advisor, said he’s not trying to refloat whales stuck in the area because of the risk of shark attacks on both people and whales. He said the surviving whales were killed to prevent further suffering.

“This decision was not taken lightly, but in cases like this it is the best option,” Lundquist said.

Most of the pilot whales had already died when they reached shore, and the survivors were in poor health, said Darren Grover, general manager of the rescue organization Project Jonah.

“Having such a large number of whales in one place is unusual, but certainly unheard of,” he said.

In addition to the dangers posed by sharks, it was “almost impossible” for rescue teams to travel to the Chatham Islands on short notice, he said, compounding the difficulty of saving the whales.

The mass delinquency incident comes less than a month later 200 pilot whales have died off the coast of Tasmania in Australia.

It’s common for pilot whales to become stuck but the behavior is poorly understood, according to the Department of Conservation. Most scientists believe that individual whales wander because they are sick and are nearing the end of their normal lifespan.

Home to about 600 people, the Chatham Islands are among the top three “stranded hot spots” in New Zealand. In 1918, the archipelago experienced the largest recorded stranding in the country of about 1,000 pilot whales, according to the department.