No sign of rescued Far North whales

Photo / Department of Conservation

There has been no sign of 14 pilot whales which were refloated after becoming stranded in Spirits Bay in the Far North last week, leading rescuers to believe they are alive and well.

A tourism plane had been doing flights where they were released and had not spotted them, Department of Conservation community relations manager Carolyn Smith said today.

Twenty-four of the surviving whales from the 74-strong pod were taken by truck from Spirits Bay, near Cape Reinga, to Rarawa Beach, about 50km to the south.

Two died on the trucks, one died at the beach and another seven were put down at the beach when it was apparent they could not survive.

The other 14 were seen swimming strongly out to sea on Saturday.

Ms Smith said people involved with the rescue were optimistic the whales would be all right.

The community had been "absolutely fantastic" in helping with the rescue effort.

For example, the truck company which lent rescuers their vehicles to transport the whales had not asked to be compensated for damage done to their trucks when they were driven on sand carrying heavy loads, she said.

Te Papa's marine mammals collection manager Anton van Helden said that while no sign of the animals was a good thing, they may have suffered all sorts of injuries through the stranding process.

Also, the reason they became stranded in the first place was not known and if it had been because of a pod-wide issue, such a disease within the pod, it was still a likely they would wash up dead or re-strand.

"One could not consider that atypical, but in saying that the only thing we've got to go on is that they pushed the animals out and we haven't seen them again so we assume they've done well, so hopefully that's the case," he said.

- NZPA