Twelve pilot whales died on Thursday and another 16 had to be euthanized after a pod stranded on Farewell Spit, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, the Department of Conservation said.
Department spokesman Hans Stoffregen said it was too dangerous to try to refloat the survivors, who were sick, on the next high tide at midnight and they were unlikely to survive until the next high tide 12 hours later.
Mr. Stoffregen said the decision to put down the survivors was made after discussions with the Project Jonah whale protection organisation and local Maori tribe leaders.
He said earlier that the whales were washed up high on the beach by an unusually high tide and they had to be sick because they would not normally die so quickly.
Strandings are common on the 24-kilometre long sandspit and whales often beach themselves again after being refloated.
Keywords: pilot whale, whale protection
Indeed as I commented a foretaste of the major earthquake in the form of a strong earthquake hit Kuril Islands in the Pacific area where the pilot whales roam about:
6.4 2012/11/16 18:12:40 49.269 155.472 29.1 KURIL ISLANDS
Whale deaths here are a portend of a major earthquake in the area. They probably become sick due to 1)Extreme pollution including radioactive wastes,2) due to heat generated at the sea floor due to the enormous surges of forces and bending moments caused by dams. See The Unacceptable Dangers of Nuclear Energy :Fish Catch and Radioactivity by Google search, especially the video there showing how wastes are dumped into the sea from on board ships and there is no legal authority to stop them.
Nice article. Though a natural phenomenon, New Zealand's Govt, could
have taken steps to rescue and refloat them. Such large scale deaths of
endangered species like Whales is worrisome - efforts should be made to
protect them and not euthanize.
Apparently, a natural phenomenon, no person can be blamed for any
wrongdoing in this.
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