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martyb [soylentnews.org] writes:

145 Pilot Whales Die in Mass Stranding in New Zealand [aljazeera.com]:

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 [cnn.com]?

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