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"We're trying to keep the rest alive": 100 whales die on New Zealand beach

There are fears that another 90 whales will suffer the same fate.

ODN / YouTube

MORE THAN 100 pilot whales that stranded on a New Zealand beach have died, conservation officials said today, voicing grave fears for more than 90 others from the pod.

The whales beached themselves yesterday at Farewell Spit at the northern tip of the South Island, with dozens of rescuers racing to re-float the marine mammals on the evening high tide.

Trying to keep the rest alive

But Department of Conservation (DOC) spokesman Andrew Lamason said the whales had swam aground again overnight after being shepherded out to deep water.

“We’ve now got 103 that are confirmed dead and we’re trying to keep the rest alive,” he told AFP.

There’s about 150 volunteers trying to make them as comfortable as possible, they’re putting sheets on them and water over them.But we’re preparing ourselves for a pretty bad outcome, each time they re-strand their health goes down quite dramatically.

Lamason said the incident was distressing for all involved.

There’s a lot of young ones out there that have already passed away. It’s been quite an emotional time for our staff. The whales also go through a lot of physical and emotional trauma.

He said another attempt at refloating would be made at high tide late today, but if that failed then euthanasia would be discussed.

Whale strandings

Farewell Spit beach, about 150 kilometres west of the tourist town of Nelson, has been the scene of mass pilot whale strandings in the past.

There have been at least eight in the past decade, including two within the space of a week in January last year, although the latest stranding is one of the largest.

“It seems to happen each summer,” Lamason said. “It’s highly likely it’s the geography, potentially they’re coming in here hunting for fish and becoming disorientated and dying.

It could be that some of the pods are sick and that brings them up onto the beach, we don’t really know.

Pilot whales grow up to six metres long and are the most common species of whale in New Zealand waters.

- © AFP, 2015

Read: This photo of a guy missing an incredible natural spectacle is going viral>

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    Mute cosmological
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    Feb 14th 2015, 12:42 PM

    Such a strange occurence and very sad.

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    Mute Seán
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    Feb 14th 2015, 1:52 PM

    Why is it strange? Their food source has been almost eliminated what do you expect?

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    Mute Barton Hill
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    Feb 14th 2015, 3:50 PM

    I didn’t know that the squid population had been eliminated,Sean. Tell us more, if you know.

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    Mute Dervila O' Sullivan
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    Feb 14th 2015, 1:28 PM

    Such a tragedy, poor beautiful animals.

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    Mute John Collins
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    Feb 14th 2015, 12:58 PM

    Very sad.

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    Mute Seán
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    Feb 14th 2015, 1:50 PM

    Not surprising seeing as 90% of global fish stocks are depleted thanks to our greedy economies. This search for infinite growth has changed the food patterns of many wild species such as these wales who are now desperate for foraging. This will have catastrophic implications for the ecosystem services we and 100s of billions of other humans are dependent upon for a long time to come.

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    Mute Dylan Neary
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    Feb 14th 2015, 5:40 PM

    So sad, I was in Donegal last year when about 15 whales beached. What I couldn’t get over when we to see them was the sight of grown adults sitting on dead whales having their picture taken.

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    Mute Berta Lovejoy
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    Feb 14th 2015, 1:28 PM

    The men who caused this are despicable human beings. And why won’t they leave these poor defenseless whales alone? If I wanted to bathe and relax at the beach I wouldn’t let anyone tell me otherwise and the same should go for these beautiful creatures.

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    Mute ger power1
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    Feb 14th 2015, 1:33 PM

    Berta mabe try read the article ya spanner

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    Mute Deco James Connolly
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    Feb 14th 2015, 2:01 PM

    She’s too busy eating a bag of donuts to talk , leave her alone for an hour then tell her off.

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    Mute Denis Reidy
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    Feb 14th 2015, 5:05 PM

    Having a bad valentines day Berta?

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    Mute Veronica
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    Feb 15th 2015, 2:18 PM

    U seriously are bonkers love…

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    Mute Lovely weather
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    Feb 15th 2015, 12:32 AM

    Meanwhile the ‘fishermen’ of Taiji, Japan are currently a mile out from the local town attempting to force yet another family of Dolphins in towards the shore to be either killed (at best). The alternative for the ‘pretty’ ones will be to be taken into captivity, held in a tiny enclosure, starved for the next week, and only then will they be fed if they respond correctly to trainers’ demands. Happens everyday Sept 1st to March in Taiji. You can watch it all live on FB Sea shepherd cove guardians OR Ric O Barry’s dolphin project page. On YouTube watch ‘The Cove full movie’ ‘PSA my friend is’ ‘ Dawn to death taiji’ to learn more, and on Netflix watch ‘Blackfish’. Info avail on FB page ‘Freedom for Dolphins Ireland’ about demos in Ireland (usually 2 per year to coincide with worldwide demos) opposing this barbarity. Never buy a ticket to any dolphinarium, $eaWorld or ‘swim with dolphin’ businesses as to do so only supports the daily cruelty in Taiji, from where most of the world’s captive dolphins are caught.

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    Mute Lovely weather
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    Feb 15th 2015, 12:43 AM

    ….00:40 Irish time, they’ve just begun slaughtering those they’ve caught.

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