Dozens of Stranded Pilot Whales Die in New Zealand: BREAKING NEWS
- Duration: 2:26
- Updated: 05 Nov 2014
About 36 pilot whales that had become stranded in the Eastern Bay of Plenty in New Zealand have died.
Two whale pods beached themselves in the Ohiwa harbour on the north-east coast on Monday.
Wildlife conservationists launched a rescue operation and helped one pod to be refloated on Tuesday, while 21 more whales were successfully herded out to sea on Wednesday.
The reasons for mass pilot whale strandings are not well understood.
Pilot whales are particularly prone to stranding behaviour. The largest known pilot whale stranding involved an estimated 1,000 whales at the Chatham Islands in 1918, according to the DOC.
Steve Brightwell from the DOC said the whales came into Ohiwa harbour after one of them was unwell and beached itself, reported Radio New Zealand.
Eleven of the whales were euthanized on welfare grounds on Tuesday, the Department of Conservation (DOC) said. About 25 pilot whales were found dead early Wednesday morning.
At about 05:00 local time on Wednesday (16:00 GMT Tuesday) volunteer medics from Project Jonah, a non-profit organisation, along with the DOC began an operation to guide those whales that were still alive back out to sea.
"We did it! All 22 whales were shepherded through the mouth of the harbour to the ocean and were last seen heading towards deeper water," Project Jonah said on Facebook.
New Zealand on average has more whales stranding themselves than any other country in the world, Daren Grover, general manager of Project Jonah told the BBC.
"It's something we have lived with and we are quite geared up to respond to," he said. "Today was a great effort - all those that were alive were refloated."
Scientists believe individual whales strand themselves because they have a disease and are coming to the end of their life.
However, there are numerous theories around mass stranding including their highly sociable behaviour. One theory is that as one whale becomes stranded the other members of its pod try to help and become stranded themselves.
Pilot whales are the largest member of the dolphin family. They get their name from the fact that researchers believe that each pod follows a "pilot" in the group.
Their distinguishing feature is a large bulbous forehead, which protrudes beyond the mouth and small beak.For More Latest News Subscribe us: https://www.youtube.com/user/SuperLatestWorldNews
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http://wn.com/Dozens_of_Stranded_Pilot_Whales_Die_in_New_Zealand_BREAKING_NEWS
About 36 pilot whales that had become stranded in the Eastern Bay of Plenty in New Zealand have died.
Two whale pods beached themselves in the Ohiwa harbour on the north-east coast on Monday.
Wildlife conservationists launched a rescue operation and helped one pod to be refloated on Tuesday, while 21 more whales were successfully herded out to sea on Wednesday.
The reasons for mass pilot whale strandings are not well understood.
Pilot whales are particularly prone to stranding behaviour. The largest known pilot whale stranding involved an estimated 1,000 whales at the Chatham Islands in 1918, according to the DOC.
Steve Brightwell from the DOC said the whales came into Ohiwa harbour after one of them was unwell and beached itself, reported Radio New Zealand.
Eleven of the whales were euthanized on welfare grounds on Tuesday, the Department of Conservation (DOC) said. About 25 pilot whales were found dead early Wednesday morning.
At about 05:00 local time on Wednesday (16:00 GMT Tuesday) volunteer medics from Project Jonah, a non-profit organisation, along with the DOC began an operation to guide those whales that were still alive back out to sea.
"We did it! All 22 whales were shepherded through the mouth of the harbour to the ocean and were last seen heading towards deeper water," Project Jonah said on Facebook.
New Zealand on average has more whales stranding themselves than any other country in the world, Daren Grover, general manager of Project Jonah told the BBC.
"It's something we have lived with and we are quite geared up to respond to," he said. "Today was a great effort - all those that were alive were refloated."
Scientists believe individual whales strand themselves because they have a disease and are coming to the end of their life.
However, there are numerous theories around mass stranding including their highly sociable behaviour. One theory is that as one whale becomes stranded the other members of its pod try to help and become stranded themselves.
Pilot whales are the largest member of the dolphin family. They get their name from the fact that researchers believe that each pod follows a "pilot" in the group.
Their distinguishing feature is a large bulbous forehead, which protrudes beyond the mouth and small beak.For More Latest News Subscribe us: https://www.youtube.com/user/SuperLatestWorldNews
TAGS
abc breaking news, bbc, bbc football, bbc iplayer, bbc news, bbc news america, bbc persian, bbc sport, bbc weather, bbc world news, breaking celebrity news, breaking election news, breaking late news, breaking local news, breaking music news, breaking news, breaking news alerts, breaking news canada, breaking news headlines, breaking news in atlanta, breaking news in nigeria, breaking news india, breaking news pensacola florida, breaking news plane crash, breaking news story, breaking sports news, business expensive news home media world, christian world news, cnn, cnn breaking news, cnn money, cnn news, cnn news breaking news, cnn news world, detroit breaking news, global news, headline, headline news, health care technology news, hot latest global news, internet technology news, las vegas breaking news, latest breaking news, latest celebrity news, latest information technology news, latest music news, latest news, latest news headlines, latest news update, latest sports news, live breaking news, local breaking news, local news today, msn breaking news, nbc breaking news, nbc world news, news of the world, news report us world, news today news, news updated daily, solar technology news, sports news today, technology news, the latest news, today news, us news and world, us news and world report, us news and world report magazine, us news and world report web site, us news world report, world news, world news daily, world news headlines
- published: 05 Nov 2014
- views: 11