Up to 145 whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand

[webfact]

Up to 145 whales die after mass stranding in New Zealand

 

A supplied image shows around 145 pilot whales that died in a mass stranding on a beach on Stewart Island, located south of New Zealand's South Island, November 25, 2018. Picture taken November 25, 2018. New Zealand Department of Conservation/Handout via REUTERS

 

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Up to 145 pilot whales died in a mass stranding on a remote New Zealand island at the weekend, authorities said on Monday.

 

The Department of Conservation (DOC) said two pods of pilot whales were stranded on a beach on Stewart Island, 30 km (20 miles) south of New Zealand's South Island.

 

Half of the whales were already dead when they were found by DOC officers, who were notified on Saturday night by a hiker camping in the area.

 

A decision was made to put the rest of the whales down due to their poor condition and the remote location, DOC Rakiura Operations Manager Ren Leppens said.

 

"Sadly, the likelihood of being able to successfully refloat the remaining whales was extremely low," said Leppens, who described it as the most humane thing to do.

 

"However, it's always a heart-breaking decision to make," he said.

 

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale strandings, although the precise cause for it is not known.

 

The DOC said it responds to an average of 85 incidents a year, mostly for single animals.

 

Many factors could contribute to such whale and dolphin strandings, including sickness, navigational error, geographical features, a rapidly falling tide, being chased by a predator, or extreme weather, the DOC said.

 

Ten pygmy killer whales were also stranded on Sunday at 90 Mile Beach on the western coast of the North Island. Two have since died and attempts were being made to refloat the rest.

 

The DOC said the two events were unlikely to be related.

 

About 300 whales died on a beach at the northwest tip of South Island last year in one of New Zealand's largest recorded mass whale strandings.

 

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-26

[bluesofa]

What will happen to them? Will they be on the menu somewhere?

With that many of them, I'd think people might get fed up with them pretty quickly.

Oh no! Whale meat again, don't know where, don't know when.

 

[lvr181]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale strandings, although the precise cause for it is not known.

Could be global warming?

 

D.A.

 

[hotchilli]

16 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

Could be global warming?

 

D.A.

 

Very doubtful, I can't find it at the moment to attach here but there is a fantastic documentary video regarding worldwide shipping causing so much underwater disturbance the whales litteraly get lost.

Their own signals, communication is just lost in all the noise, also their ability to track & feed on other fish is lost.

The worst offenders are sonar from military shipping & submarines, these can litteraly drive whales & other species insane, so much so that they will swim in any direction just to get out of the way of the sonar, sometimes beaching themselves in this manner!

I think you'll find this is closer to the answer than climate change or water temperatures .

[quandow]

Whatever the reason, it isn't natural. It was such an eye-opener when I first watched "The Matrix" and heard humans described as a virus. There is NOTHING humans offer that the earth couldn't do just fine without.

[Scott]

A post from an unapproved source has been removed.

 

[bendejo]

16 hours ago, bluesofa said:

What will happen to them? Will they be on the menu somewhere?

With that many of them, I'd think people might get fed up with them pretty quickly.

Oh no! Whale meat again, don't know where, don't know when.

 

 

Someone had the bright idea of blowing up a dead, beached whale.  There is a video somewhere on the net.  I won't spoil the outcome.

 

 

[Carib]

9 minutes ago, bendejo said:

 

Someone had the bright idea of blowing up a dead, beached whale.  There is a video somewhere on the net.  I won't spoil the outcome.

 

 

This one? It was a bit bigger... So was the aftermath

 

[lvr181]

14 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Very doubtful, I can't find it at the moment to attach here but there is a fantastic documentary video regarding worldwide shipping causing so much underwater disturbance the whales litteraly get lost.

Their own signals, communication is just lost in all the noise, also their ability to track & feed on other fish is lost.

The worst offenders are sonar from military shipping & submarines, these can litteraly drive whales & other species insane, so much so that they will swim in any direction just to get out of the way of the sonar, sometimes beaching themselves in this manner!

I think you'll find this is closer to the answer than climate change or water temperatures .

I do cannot disagree with you. ????

 

The letters D.A. in my post = Devils Advocate ???? Happy to see you did not rise to the "bait". Cheers.

[Ahab]

15 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Very doubtful, I can't find it at the moment to attach here but there is a fantastic documentary video regarding worldwide shipping causing so much underwater disturbance the whales litteraly get lost.

Their own signals, communication is just lost in all the noise, also their ability to track & feed on other fish is lost.

The worst offenders are sonar from military shipping & submarines, these can litteraly drive whales & other species insane, so much so that they will swim in any direction just to get out of the way of the sonar, sometimes beaching themselves in this manner!

I think you'll find this is closer to the answer than climate change or water temperatures .

New Zealand does not have a large Navy with powerful Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) systems so it is doubtful that this would be the cause in this particular case. Submarines rarely use active sonar because it reduces stealth which is the main attribute of submarines.  Also something to consider is that in areas where powerful sonars are used routinely (Hawaii, San Diego California, and Norfolk Virginia) marine mammal stranding's are no more common than in any other areas, and mass stranding's such as this one don't occur more often than areas with no sonar use. In fact, the largest mass stranding events worldwide have occurred in areas without large navies and in fairly remote areas away from high shipping areas. Your contention that whales and other species are driven "insane" or cause them to "swim in any direction" is not supported by current science, but is touted in propaganda and fund raising efforts for groups such as Earth Justice, and other environmental groups. Sonar can cause marine mammals to stop vocalizing or move out of an area temporarily but studies have shown that they move back into the same area after 24-72 hours. In rare cases sonars have been associated with marine mammal standing's. While I agree with you on climate change or water temperatures being unlikely causes I disagree with you that sonar or the military is any more likely a cause in this particular instance and geographic location. Marine mammals can strand for many reasons and more often than not the cause of any particular stranding can never be determined beyond a reasonable doubt.  

[ballpoint]

[bendejo]

3 hours ago, Carib said:

This one? It was a bit bigger... So was the aftermath

 

I thought it was more recent than that, but yeah, the result is what I recall.

 

[josephbloggs]

On 11/26/2018 at 5:31 PM, lvr181 said:

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale strandings, although the precise cause for it is not known.

 

It could be that New Zealand has a lot of whales.

[lvr181]

23 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

It could be that New Zealand has a lot of whales.

 

 

But it seems that the beach strandings are always Pilot whales and I wonder why?

[White Christmas13]

7 minutes ago, lvr181 said:

 

 

But it seems that the beach strandings are always Pilot whales and I wonder why?

Maybe they don't have a license?

 

[lvr181]

1 minute ago, White Christmas13 said:

Maybe they don't have a license?

 

And are employed by a LCC in Asia?

 

OMG - Houston, we have a problem.  

(Acknowledgment to the musical version of War Of The Worlds)