Hundreds of whales in second New Zealand stranding able to swim free

Authorities and volunteers worked frantically since Thursday to re-float as numerous pilot whales as possible, but sadly around 250 died, according to media reports.

About 500 volunteers used sheets to cover the whales’ thick skin and buckets to continuously pour water over them to keep them cool. Most of these whales later died.

Seventeen pilot whales that were part of a “strange” mass stranding in New Zealand have returned to a large pod and were swimming off shore, a charity that organized a rescue effort said Sunday.

Beached whales are not uncommon on Golden Bay.

About 335 of the whales are dead, 220 remain stranded, and 100 are back at sea.

Though the area is notorious for whale strandings, few people had seen one of this scope before; it was the third largest on record in the country. A lot of them died but volunteers converged on Saturday on the spit, which is a notorious whale trap, to help in the rescue of 100 survivors. The area is now closed to the public because of the risk from whales exploding.

According to officials, the reason behind the stranding is not clear yet.

A pod of 200 pilot whales is milling around Taupata Point near Farewell Spit, sparking fresh fears of another whale stranding.

The whales will be moved with a digger and buried in the sand dunes further up Farewell Spit, South Island, the BBC reported.

Although about 100 whales stranded overnight were floated just after dawn, a fifth of that number beached themselves again in the afternoon.

The dead whales are in an area of Farewell Spit the public can walk along. Pilot whales are not among those in the endangered animal list, however, there are insufficient information about their population in New Zealand.

Hundreds of volunteers entered the shallow waters and joined hands in order to form a massive human chain in an attempt to prevent additional whales from washing ashore.

Many volunteers came to help them refloat and swim free.

Twenty of those restranded whales had to be euthanized. About a hundred whales were helped by volunteers and managed to swim free, while two more hundred were able to swim unassisted.