Nearly 100 whales die in mass stranding in New Zealand

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CNN

By Amy Woodyatt,

(CNN)Nearly 100 pilot whales have died in a mass stranding on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand's Department of Conservation said Wednesday.

Some 97 whales and three dolphins died in the stranding, which conservation department staff were alerted to around midday local time on Sunday.

A power outage and the remote location of New Zealand's most eastern islands, around 500 miles east off the country's South Island, meant Department of Conservation rangers did not arrive at Waitangi West Beach until 3 p.m., officials said.

"Only 26 of the whales were still alive at this point, the majority of them appearing very weak, and were euthanized due to the rough sea conditions and almost certainty of there being great white sharks in the water which are brought in by a stranding like this," biodiversity ranger Jemma Welch said in a statement.



97 pilot whales and three dolphins died in the stranding, New Zealand's Department of Conservation said.


Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/asia/pilot-whale-stranding-chatham-intl-scli/index.html

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. There is a sperm whale stranded in my hometown bay atm

and is in danger of dying in Mobile Bay. They are trying to get it back out into the ocean, but haven't been successful so far.

[uppityperson]

2. This is so sad

[RussBLib]

3. get the feeling they are trying to tell us something?

I wish we could communicate with them.

[Bayard]

4. Heartbreaking.....

"the whales will be left to decompose naturally." Egads! That sounds like a bad idea for many reasons.

[GulfCoast66]

5. Seems reasonable to me. This has been going on forever. Old records speak of it happening.

Nature should be left alone as much as possible. Better than hauling them to a landfill.

[Bayard]

6. First thing I'm thinking about is food for a lot of hungry people

If they could have immediately gotten them on ice.

Next thing is polluting the water. Third is the undesirables it will bring in, like sharks and insects. I didn't see anything in the article about people who might live in the area.

[GulfCoast66]

7. Well, don't know where to start. First, most people do not eat whale. It is actually illegal

At least in many countries. Most, actually.

And sharks and insects? They along with buzzards, rays, catfish and pretty much all other flesh eating animals are evolutions answer for repurposing dead animals. And worms, hogs... you get the idea.

A natural event occurred. Let nature deal with it as has been done since life emerged on earth.

[Bayard]

10. Maybe not so natural

There are a number of ideas for why whales and dolphins beach, including human-generated noise like military sonar and interference with how they navigate.

I can't imagine how that many large decomposing bodies would smell like, but I would bet any residents would be unhappy.

A number of cultures have eaten whale for centuries....Native Americans in the Pacific NW and Alaska. Even Japan, although I am horrified by the commercial hunting and killing of them. I'm just saying, its a shame that so much food is going to waste with people starving world-wide--including the U.S. But it would have needed to be harvested and iced right away, which may not be possible.

[Dial H For Hero]

12. I actually tried whale when I was in Iceland not too long ago. It was quite good.

Reminded me a bit of beef (although not exactly the same).

[meadowlander]

11. It's a remote island in the middle of the Pacific that barely has electricity.

The whole population of the island chain is only 600 people.

What do you expect them to do with 100 whales (literally 1,000,000 kg of rotting potentially diseased flesh)?

[StarryNite]

8. And what about the ones that were euthanized? Couldn't that poison other creatures

who feed off of them?

[csziggy]

9. Well, you certainly do NOT want to blow them up

Or be close to them when they spontaneously blow up: