There has been a mass stranding of pilot whales in Nelson’s Golden Bay.
The Department of Conservation (DoC), local medics and the Golden Bay community are responding to help the whales at Farewell Spit.
In a post online, the conservation group Project Jonah said it was working alongside the community and DoC rangers to rescue the mammals.
“At this time, no further help is required,” the post said.
DoC reported at least 30 to 40 whales are stranded.
“Our staff are working on site, with assistance from the community and Project Jonah,” it said.
“Further updates will be provided when possible.”
Project Jonah general manager Daren Grover told Newstalk ZB they received calls about the stranding about mid-afternoon.
“We mobilised medics to support locals who were there responding to the whales,” he said.
“Our work there is to provide basic first aid. Working to prevent the whales from suffering from heatstroke, heat exhaustion and working to make them as comfortable as possible.”
Grover said there were 37 live whales on the spit and two had died so far.
He said the goal was to refloat the “tight social group” on the next high tide.
“They won’t refloat if you only do one or two of them back into the ocean. They do need to be refloated together.
“There is a chance to do it for themselves this evening around midnight.”
He asked members of the public to keep an eye on Project Jonah’s Facebook for advice and calls for help.
DoC operations manager Ross Trotter said they were alerted to the Farewell Spit stranding about 1pm.
“There are 37 long-finned pilot whales stranded at one location. Two whales have died and 35 remain alive,” he said.
“DoC is working with Project Jonah and volunteers on site to keep the whales wet and as comfortable as possible until a refloating can be attempted.
“The plan is to try to refloat the whales either on the incoming tide tonight before it gets dark or at high tide tomorrow at about midday.
“The team are assessing to see if a refloat attempt is possible this evening before it gets dark,” Trotter said.
“However high tide isn’t until 11.30pm so this may not be possible. Once it’s dark, the team will stand down, as it’s unsafe to continue to work.
“A team will return to the site at dawn.
“Currently, we have enough support onsite, and no extra volunteers are needed at this stage. We appreciate the support of the volunteers who are assisting.”
This stranding comes a week after about 40 pilot whales became stranded on Ruakākā Beach in Northland.
The whales became stranded around 5.30pm as members of the public, including families with young children, ran to the beach and attempted to keep the animals wet as the tide retreated.
As refloating began, hundreds of volunteers formed a “human wall” and used banging noises to prevent the whales from returning to the beach.
Four of the whales succumbed on the beach, but the rest were successfully refloated.
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