More than 400 whales have been stranded in New Zealand. At least 250 of these whales have already died. The rest are struggling for survival as they re-float in a beach in Farewell Spit in Golden Bay on Friday morning.
According to the local Department of Conservation, they are exerting their fullest effort to save the rest of the whales which are still alive. As of press time, they have already helped 50 whales return to their habitat. However, another 80 to 90 of these whales re-stranded themselves five hours later.
Kath Inwood, scout ranger from the Department of Conservation, relayed that the resurfacing of the dolphins at shore ignited the passion of environmental conservationists nearby. When news broke of the dolphins resurfacing, two to three hundred truck loads of people arrived to help. According to Inwood’s estimate, about three hundred to four hundred people have rendered their help to save these dolphins.
Furthermore, Inwood told CNN that many locals have been trained to in keeping animals safe and comfortable. She even commended the volunteers for having worked efficiently and selflessly with the knowledge and expertise they learned. In consideration of the volunteers’ safety in helping the stressed animals return to sea, work will temporarily stop at night time.
According to a department staffer, the whales were first spotted within the waters Thursday night. The source futher added that this is not the first time that whales have re-stranded themselves. Usually, the re-floating happens around November and March, but there are mostly one or two dolphins found at the shoreline. Recently, the world’s oldest killer whale has died.
MSN News also reported that volunteers find it extremely difficult to get the living animals back in the sea because of the many whale carcasses in the area. This is because the dead whales areobstructing the course of the sea. Furthermore, dozens of volunteers formed a human chain to prevent the whales from re-stranding themselves.
