‘DISTRESSING EVENTS’

Nearly 500 Whales Die After Mysterious Mass Beaching Incidents

Authorities said the stranded mammals couldn’t be refloated due to the risk of shark attack.

Around 240 pilot whales that became stranded on Pitt Island in the Pacific died just days after another 215 whales beached on the nearby Chatham Island, New Zealand’s conservation office said. All surviving animals from the two “super pods” that washed up onto the islands could not be refloated and had to be euthanized, authorities said. “This decision is never taken lightly, but in cases like this it is the kindest option,” Dave Lundquist, marine technical adviser at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, told Al Jazeera. It was determined that the risk of shark attack to the whales and humans made refloating the animals too risky, Lundquist added. “These mass strandings are distressing events, and while we always hope surviving whales are able to be refloated, this wasn’t an option here,” stranded whale charity Project Jonah said in a Facebook post following the first mass beaching.