Euthanising dolphins ‘a welfare decision’

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Nearly half of a pod of dolphins had died while the rest were badly injured by the time they were stranded a second time near Māhia, making euthanisation a “welfare decision”, says marine mammal welfare trust Project Jonah.

The pod of around 40 false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins was first stranded early on Sunday afternoon but was refloated with the high tide about 3pm.

Unfortunately, the pod stranded itself for the second time later that evening, this time on a remote and inaccessible reef point further south from Taylor’s Beach, and DoC made the decision to euthanise the animals.

In a statement on social media, Project Jonah New Zealand said Department of Conservation rangers who got to the reef found almost 40 percent had perished while others were badly injured.

“This is a very sad outcome for what seemed hopeful throughout the day. Among the pod were some bottlenose dolphins.

“Scientists from False Killer Whales NZ travelled to the site “to hopefully learn more about the pod”, the statement said.

Project Jonah general manager Daren Grover told Hawke’s Bay Today those scientists were on the ground as of Monday and were involved in hui with DoC and iwi.

Project Jonah received reports that dolphins in the pod were “smashing themselves on the rocks” due to stress when they beached a second time, Mr Grover said.

“The tide was out and would not come back for another 10 hours. Euthanising was a welfare decision. They weren’t going to make it, or if they did, it would be in a terrible condition.”

He was not yet certain what would be done with the remains but he believed they were in a good position to satisfy mātauranga Māori and Western scientific perspectives.

Whale strandings are not new to Māhia Peninsula although not on this scale.

A social media post said a rāhui had been placed on the Te Hoe Mātaitai reserve of the peninsula as a result of the euthanisations but confirmation of this from authorities was yet to be received.

False killer whales are found globally, typically in deep offshore waters.

Research from Far Out Ocean Research Collective — a New Zealand-based collaborative open ocean research platform — suggests there is possibly a small local population of false killer whales off north-eastern New Zealand.

“False killer whales also appear to form a permanent association with oceanic common bottlenose dolphins in the study area,” the Far Out Ocean website said.

“The interspecific associations between these two species, and with pilot whales, are the subject of ongoing behavioural research.”

False killer whales are often confused with the more common pilot whales.

Common bottlenose dolphins are considered “least concern” globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

According to DoC, bottlenose dolphin population sizes are largely unknown but this species is relatively common worldwide.

“Bottlenose dolphins are commonly associated with other cetaceans including pilot whales, rough-toothed and Risso’s dolphins, and humpback whales,” DoC’s website

said.