New Zealand beached whale crisis 'over' say rescuers

AFP photo

Whale rescuers were cautiously optimistic on Feb. 12 that the current wave of mass beachings in New Zealand was over, after hundreds of the creatures died after being stranded ashore.

The crisis began early Feb. 10 when a pod of 416 whales were found stranded on the 26-kilometer Farewell Spit, with hundreds more following them over the weekend.

The shallow, sweeping spit is believed to interfere with the whales' navigation systems and is a regular scene of mass strandings.

As low tide approached early Feb. 12 evening, around 300 pilot whales were heading out of Golden Bay in the northwest of the South Island and swimming towards the deep-water safety of Cook Strait.

"It's good news. The pod is swimming well away," Department of Conservation regional conservation manager Andrew Lamason told AFP.

"They're the exact words," he added, when asked if he was cautiously optimistic the crisis was over. "We've pulled our boats out of the water."

The news came as a relief for the hundreds of exhausted volunteers, who had spent three days comforting the stranded animals and keeping them cool while waiting to refloat them on the high tide.

Late Feb. 11 afternoon, when rescuers believed the situation to be under control, about 240 whales moved around a small flotilla of boats and a human chain of rescuers standing in the water trying to herd them away.

They beached themselves about three kilometers from the Feb. 10 stranding.

By Feb. 12 morning most had managed to refloat themselves and at high tide volunteer workers were able to get the remaining animals back into the water where boats were used to guide them towards the other survivors.

Many volunteers gathered on the shoreline broke down...

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