250 pilot whales die in remote New Zealand stranding

WELLINGTON: About 250 pilot whales have died after beaching on New Zealand´s remote Chatham Island where the shark risk makes attempts to refloat them too dangerous, the government said on Saturday.

The pilot whales, members of the dolphin family, were reported to have been stranded on Friday on the northwest of the island, New Zealand´s department of conservation said.

“We do not actively refloat whales on the Chatham Islands due to the risk of shark attack to both humans and the whales themselves,” it said in a statement.

A trained team euthanised surviving whales to prevent further suffering, the department said. Indigenous peoples of New Zealand and Chatham Island were present to give support, it added.

“All the stranded pilot whales are now deceased and their bodies will be left to decompose naturally on site,” the conservation department said.

Such strandings are “not uncommon” in the Chatham Islands, off the eastern coast of New Zealand´s South Island, it said, noting that the largest recorded event involved an estimated 1,000 whales in 1918.