Tragic end to Māhia dolphin refloat

Department of Conservation staff, Project Jonah volunteers and locals joined forces to refloat this pod of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins at Māhia on Sunday only for them to become restranded at another location. Nearly half had died and DoC made the tough decision to euthanise the rest.Facebook picture

A pod of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins have been euthanised after becoming stranded again on a reef near Māhia.

The pod of around 40 was first stranded early Sunday afternoon and the combined efforts of a group of volunteers, iwi members and the local community managed to refloat it with the high tide about 3pm.

However, the Department of Conservation said the pod restranded at a remote and inaccessible reef further south of Taylor’s Beach.

Marine mammal charity Project Jonah NZ said in a statement on social media that DoC rangers found almost 40 percent of the pod had died and others were badly injured.

DoC’s Matt Tong said the pod were assessed as being unlikely to survive and the difficult decision was made to euthanise them.

“This is a sad outcome for these whales, particularly after the successful refloating earlier. However, they are clearly suffering and euthanising them is the most humane course of action.”

He thanked those who helped with the initial refloating of the pod.

Project Jonah NZ marine mammal charity manager Daren Grover said the initial concern in regard to the  refloat was that the whales would not swim out to sea and would strand themselves again as the tide went out.

A team of people created a “human chain” in the shallows, splashing and making noise.

“Obviously, we didn’t want to distress the whales, but without understanding the underlying reasons why the whales came to shore in the first place, we know a human chain can work and it has worked in the past.”

The chain worked as one as the tide receded to herd the pod back.

While whales could be unpredictable and dangerous — and it was not recommended to get in the water with them — Mr Grover said the health and safety of those involved was taken into great consideration.

They were aware of the possibility of the whales restranding themselves.

Earlier, a video was posted on a Facebook community page showing the whales thrashing in the shallows of a rocky beach and waving their tails, surrounded by white water.