False killer whales are a dolphin that looks like a pilot whale but with a more slender and tapering head without grey or white colouring on their sides or top.
Mana whenua, DoC and members of the scientific community went to the site yesterday to take samples and measurements.
Tong said the decision made to euthanise the mammals was distressing for the community.
“Their chances of survival were very slim. Where they restranded themselves, it was a really rocky situation. A number of them were high and dry and in a really bad state — really scratched up and in a lot of distress,” Mr Tong said.
“Our next potential opportunity to refloat them would have been 4pm this afternoon (Monday) and the health and safety considerations of having a team down there overnight took priority, so we made the decision to put them out of their misery.”
A volunteer who has helped with beached whales said it was unusual for false killer whales to strand in a big pod.
Darren Grover, of marine mammal trust Project Jonah, said conditions for the whales were grim.
“When the whales were then discovered by DoC rangers, some of the whales had already died and they were seeing whales highly distressed,” he said.
“One of the responses to stress they have is thrashing their bodies around, and being helpless, stuck up on the rocks, they were thrashing themselves around. They were injuring themselves,” Mr Grover said.
There were a number of reasons the dolphins would come close to the shoreline, he said.
“Chasing food in the shallows. There could be illness or injury among the pod, which causes them to slow down and come closer to shore. Māhia itself is a bit of a hot spot in New Zealand whale stranding. There’s an ocean current that runs along that coast and this hook of land does tend to catch them out.”
Mr Grover said the last false killer whale stranding happened eight years ago but involved just two animals on Christchurch’s New Brighton beach. — RNZ
