Source: Radio New Zealand
More than 50 whales became stranded on Thursday at Farewell Spit. Supplied / Project Jonah New Zealand
Eleven whales have been euthanised five days on from a mass stranding in Golden Bay.
More than 50 whales became stranded on Thursday at Farewell Spit, and over the weekend hundreds of volunteers worked to refloat them.
Project Jonah said 42 were successfully returned to the sea.
The remaining whales were found re-stranded on Monday morning, showing signs of acute stress. Two others had died overnight.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) said there were poor conditions for refloating on Monday, and the final group were not expected to survive another refloating attempt.
“A condition assessment was carried out this morning by DOC staff and Project Jonah, with support from Massey University experts via video link,” the department said.
“Unfortunately, the whales are not in good condition after five days of strandings, and it was determined euthanasia is the most humane option
“This is not the outcome we had hoped for, but the decision has been made with the welfare of the whales in mind.”
Project Jonah volunteer coordinator Louisa Hawkes said the community response to the stranding had been amazing.
“We couldn’t have done it without everybody who has come down to help, whether that was just for a morning, an afternoon, a day or turning up day after day.
“Every whale had its welfare monitored throughout the event, and those that were in a good condition were given the best possible chance of a refloat.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
