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Rescuers are fighting to save 49 long-finned pilot whales at Farewell Spit Bay, the site of at least 10 pilot whale strandings in the past 15 years.
Rescuers were racing Monday to save dozens of pilot whales that washed up on a stretch of New Zealand’s coastline known for mass stranding, wildlife officials said.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) said the pod of 49 long-finned pilot whales was found early Monday at Farewell Spit, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of the resort town of Nelson on the South Island.
By midafternoon, nine of the whales had died and more than 60 people were working to keep the survivors alive in an attempt to re-float them at high tide, the DOC said.
“Marine mammal doctors will help refloat the whales and care for them on the beach, keeping them cool and wet until they can be refloated,” said a DOC spokeswoman.
Farewell Spit is a 26-kilometer sand hook that juts out into the sea at Golden Bay.
It has been the scene of at least 10 pilot whale strandings in the past 15 years, the most recent in February 2017, when nearly 700 of the marine mammals stranded, resulting in 250 deaths.
Scientists aren’t sure why the beach is so deadly, although one theory is that the tongue creates a shallow seafloor in the bay that interferes with the whales’ sonar navigation systems.
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