240 more whales stranded in New Zealand, bringing two-day total to 650

[inanna]

Source: Associated Press

Sat., Feb. 11, 2017

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND—A new pod of 240 whales swam aground at a remote New Zealand beach on Saturday just hours after weary volunteers managed to refloat a different group of whales following an earlier mass stranding.

In total, more than 650 pilot whales have beached themselves along a 5 kilometre stretch of coastline over two days on Farewell Spit at the tip of the South Island. About 335 of the whales are dead, 220 remain stranded, and 100 are back at sea.

Andrew Lamason, operations manager at the Golden Bay Department of Conservation, said the team is sure they’re dealing with a new pod because they had tagged all the refloated whales from the first group and none of the new group had tags.

The news was devastating for hundreds of volunteers who had come from around the country to help with the initial group of 416 stranded whales that was found early Friday, many of them already dead.

Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/02/11/240-more-whales-stranded-in-new-zealand-bringing-two-day-total-to-650.html

[AllaN01Bear]

1. poor creatures. silent keys

hmm? a puzzlement. wonder if a large quake is brewing somewhere( thinking out loud)

[HoneyBadger]

2. This happened in the movie Whale Rider

[meadowlander]

3. More photos/details here

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/89318134/17-more-whales-have-washed-up-on-farewell-spit-only-one-day-after-rescuers-saved-100-of-them

[Eugene]

4. New Zealand whales: Hundreds refloat on high tide at Farewell Spit

Source: BBC

New Zealand whales: Hundreds refloat on high tide at Farewell Spit

12 February 2017 Asia

More than 200 whales stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand on Saturday have refloated themselves and returned to sea.

But conservation officials have warned that they could still turn back to the beach at Farewell Spit, South Island.

Earlier, volunteers managed to refloat some 100 of the more than 400 pilot whales which beached on Thursday.

However a human chain, with volunteers wading neck-deep into the water, failed to prevent a fresh pod making landfall.

"The 240-odd whales that had stranded between Puponga and Pakawau late on Saturday have mostly refloated themselves on last night's high tide and are milling around in shallow water," conservation spokesman Herb Christophers said.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38942763

[mr_lebowski]

5. Couldn't they like 'lure' the ones milling about in the shallow waters by dumping food ...

off the side of boat that's gradually moving out to deeper waters? Just thinking out loud ... this is such a terrible tragedy, my heart breaks for these beautiful creatures ...

For the future, maybe we could really study the whales 'language' and behavior in response to certain sounds ... figure out if there's a sound that means 'stay away! danger!' and plant buoys in a big chain offshore that would broadcast the 'stay away' sound at all times. Sound in water travels for miles so might only need a handful of buoys ...