MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Massive loss of pilot whales stranded on New Zealand beach

Dozens of rescuers tried to re-float the whales

Only nine of the 63 pilot whales which were found stranded on a beach of New Zealand’s northern island on Friday are believed to have survived. Thirteen whales were re-floated Saturday but four of them got back into difficulty and NZ Department of Conservation staff made the tough decision to euthanize them.

The other nine were late Sunday morning believed to have remained at sea, Kim Mulcaster of Project Jonah said.

“We haven't heard any reports that they have tried to re-strand so we're hopeful,” she told NZPA. “It's been tough but we're glad nine have survived.”

Carolyn Smith, of the Department of Conservation (DOC), said that of the 13 re-floated, one re-beached itself, another was trying to strand itself on rocks and the remaining two were swimming upside down, and in circles.

Ms Smith said the decision was made to euthanize those four “as there was concern that if these whales remained in the water, they would attract the others back to shore”.

More than 100 people helped to keep the survivors alive but due to rough sea conditions it was too dangerous for volunteers to release the whales at Karikari. They were instead trucked to sheltered Matai Bay about one kilometre away.

Rescuers took turns to stay with the whales once they had been transported, as the pod's survivors needed to be released as a group.

“There's no point in releasing them individually because they'll turn around and come back,” said Project Jonah chief executive Kimberly Muncaster.

Over the past 160 years, more than 5,000 whales and dolphins have been recorded stranded around the New Zealand coast. They are most common in the summer, when whales pass by on their migration to and from Antarctic waters. Scientists do not know what causes the mass strandings.