400 Pilot Whales stranded Farewell Spit, NZ

Only 100 pilot whales survived after a large pod of 416 stranded on Farewell Spit overnight........

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Not far from me, across the other side of Cook Strait.
The sea is like a mill pond this morning.
This is the biggest stranding ever.

a reply to: muzzy

Oh no! Not pilot whales!

They are such a thing of beauty:



I love whales, I hope someone finds a way to free them! Maybe the next tide raise will help them out?

a reply to: muzzy

Were there any NAVY shops operating the area with hi powered sonar?

a reply to: muzzy

Yes my guess would be the high power sonar the US Navy use or mapping for oil.... Normally messes them up...

Only half have survived the refloat on the high tide this morning, they rest came back in.
There is some talk about seismic testing at the southern end of Cook Strait, which was done about 7 days ago. Of course the authorities say there is no connection, but how do they know the whales were not down that end a week ago and didn't have their sonar damaged then.
It is a long shot I must agree, Farewell Spit has had a lot of whale standings over the years, the beach there is a long shallow run up to the shore and the tide comes and goes pretty fast.
Scientists speculate that one of the main causes of stranding is maybe just one whale is sick and strands, being a close unit family/group the rest basically commit sympathetic suicide.
Yes it is really sad. I would never have thought there were pods that size in our waters to start with.
Full Moon last night and very still, no wind to speak of, not sure if that has anything to do with it.

1000 whales stranded on the Chatham Islands in 1918
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a reply to: muzzy

Very sad , hopefully the volunteers can rescue some of then although it seem some don't want to be saved.

Fifty of the 100 refloated pilot whales have since restranded themselves.

It gets worse, another pod of 180 whales has also stranded further down the coast.
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