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145 Pilot Whales Die in Mass Stranding in New Zealand

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday November 27 2018, @02:48AM   
from the pilot-error dept.

martyb writes:

145 Pilot Whales Die in Mass Stranding in New Zealand:

As many as 145 pilot whales died in a mass stranding on a remote New Zealand island, authorities said on Monday.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) said two pods of pilot whales were stranded on a beach on Stewart Island, 30km off New Zealand's South Island.

The whales were found by a hiker camping in the area who notified the authorities on Saturday night. Half the animals were already dead when they were found by conservation officers who decided to put the rest of the whales down because of their poor condition.

"Sadly, the likelihood of being able to successfully re-float the remaining whales was extremely low," said DOC Rakiura Operations Manager Ren Leppens, adding putting the whales to sleep was the most humane thing to do.

Would these have any value to Japan?

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Original Submission

• Not rare Not rare (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:18AM (5 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:18AM (#766785)

  Significant whale strandings in NZ since 2010

  November 26, 2018

  145 pilot whales died after stranding in Mason Bay on Stewart Island.

  November 25, 2018
  12 whales, understood to be pygmy killer whales, stranded south of Te Paki Stream in Northland. 10 survived.

  November 23, 2018
  A 15-metre sperm whale died after being stranded at Tokeroa Beach in Doubtful Bay in Northland.

  August 5, 2018
  2 whales stranded on Baylys Beach near Dargaville. 1 died.

  July 9, 2018
  2 rare pygmy right whales died at Taupo Bay in Northland.

  May 23, 2018
  8 sperm whales died after becoming stranded on a South Taranaki beach.

  April 5, 2018
  32 pilot whales stranded at the mouth of the Okuru River. At least 21 died.

  February 10, 2017
  416 pilot whales stranded near the base of Farewell Spit, Golden Bay and about 300 died.

  November 6, 2015
  29 whales died after stranding at Doughboy Bay on Stewart Island.

  February 13, 2015
  200 pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit at Golden Bay near Nelson. 140 died.

  March 2, 2014
  9 orca whales died after stranding at Blue Cliffs Beach near Tuatapere in Southland.

  November 5, 2014
  60 pilot whales stranded in Ohiwa Harbour in Whakatane. At least 20 died.

  January 21, 2014
  49 whales stranded off Puponga at Farewell Spit. 3 died.

  January 19, 2014
  62 pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit at Golden Bay near Nelson were successfully refloated.

  January 15, 2014
  15 whales pilot whales died after stranding near the base of Farewell Spit at Golden Bay near Nelson.

  January 6, 2014
  39 pilot whales died after stranding near the base of Farewell Spit at Golden Bay near Nelson.

  November 15, 2012
  28 pilot whales died after stranding at the high tide mark on Farewell Spit in Golden Bay.

  January 23, 2012
  99 pilot whales stranded and more than 80 died at Golden Bay at the top of the South Island.

  November 15, 2011
  65 pilot whales stranded on Farewell Spit in Golden Bay. 31 died.

  February 21, 2011
  107 pilot whales died after stranding at a beach near Cavalier Creek on Stewart Island.

  September 22, 2010
  Seventy-four whales stranded across two kilometres on the remote beach north of Kaitaia. At least 43 died.

  August 10, 2010
  73 pilot whales stranded at Karikari Beach in Northland and 60 died.

  January 25, 2010
  50 pilot whales came ashore at Port Levy near Christchurch. 16 died.

  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12166302 [nzherald.co.nz]

  Apparently the NZ herald is a decent news source, cant say the same for al jazeera.

• Re:Not rare Re:Not rare (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:36AM (2 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:36AM (#766791)

  Al jajeera is garbage. But then, most news outlets are, so...

  Parent

  • Re:Not rare Re:Not rare (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:39AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:39AM (#766792)

    Prove it, orange lad.

    Parent

    • Re:Not rare (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:48AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 27 2018, @03:48AM (#766795)

      Look at this story, the al jazeera version is almost the exact same thing as the nz herald one, except with the info to give the event context stripped out. I also noticed the time is missing for this story although al jazeera shows it for others.

      Parent

• Re:Not rare (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:03AM

  by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday November 27 2018, @09:03AM (#766855) Journal

  Save your "freedom fries" comments for the Yanks, boyo! Seem there is something in New Zealand waters throwing off whale nav systems on a regular basis. American Sub Sonar? (That's "George Soros", for you alt-right types!) Or, perhaps, on the edges of possibility, could it be that ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn?
      https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Citations:ph%27nglui_mglw%27nafh_Cthulhu_R%27lyeh_wgah%27nagl_fhtagn

  Not to intentionally scare anyone. Did you hear about the death asteroid in 2023? Just after the death President of 2020! Cthulhu/Voldemort 2020! Stop settling for the lesser evil! Steve Miller approved this message, and the tear-gassing of children and pregnant women, and the separation of parents and children, and the intentional running over of kittens with Hummers. Steve Miller!

  Parent

• Re:Not rare (Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday November 28 2018, @04:35AM

  by driverless (4770) on Wednesday November 28 2018, @04:35AM (#767208)

  New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale strandings, although the precise cause for it is not known.

  I'm sure broadcasts of NZ's Got Talent have something to do with it.

  Parent