Mass whale stranding: Whales restrand on Farewell Spit, Tasman despite refloating efforts
- A group of pilot whales who stranded on Tasman’s Golden Bay have restranded despite refloating efforts.
- This morning, 13 of the whales were confirmed to have died.
- Project Jonah is welcoming volunteer help.
The group of pilot whales that beached in Tasman’s Golden Bay yesterday have restranded, despite the best efforts of rescuers.
On Monday afternoon 37 whales were stranded on Farewell Spit, leading to a rescue effort involving the Department of Conservation, Project Jonah, local medics and the Golden Bay community.
On Tuesday, 13 of the whales were confirmed dead, but rescuers said the remaining 24 were in “relatively good condition” and they hoped to successfully refloat them at noon.
But although the whales were brought together and refloated, they didn’t head out to sea at high tide.
“Despite the whales having water deep enough for them to swim in for a number of hours, they have restranded and are spread along the beach,” Project Jonah said in its latest update this afternoon.
“Volunteers are continuing to care for the whales but conditions are more challenging with a strong southerly winds.
“If you have a wetsuit and can arrive self-sufficient ie own water, food etc we will be on the beach until sunset and welcome your help.”
A livestream from Project Jonah earlier today showed people walking back and forth pouring buckets of seawater on the stranded whales as they prepared for the tide to come in at Farewell Spit.
The buckets were to make the whales feel cool and comfortable before the tide reached them, Louisa Hawkes from Project Jonah said.
“These whales hopefully will start to get excited to have water around them soon.”
Dead whales could be seen marked with a bright green X, while others had numbers written on them.
Project Jonah said there was no power, food or water at the Golden Bay site and advised volunteers to bring their own supplies.
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