MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Here’s an update on this story …

Update: All remaining 33 stranded pilot whales have been euthanized …

By Dave Williams – “A final attempt will be made on Wednesday to refloat the 35 surviving pilot whales from a pod that has repeatedly stranded on Farewell Spit, near the top of New Zealand’s South Island.

About 100 whales stranded themselves near the base of the spit in Golden Bay on Monday and 34 of them died that night.

Others managed to free themselves while the rest were refloated on Tuesday with the help of dozens of volunteers. However, some stranded again later in the day.

Four died on Tuesday night leaving 35 survivors. Another attempt will be made to refloat them at high tide, which is about 11.40am on Wednesday.

Department of Conservation spokesman Nigel Mountford told AAP the whales lost condition each time they were stranded out of water on the low tide, and if they restranded again they would likely die.

‘The third day of stranding is pretty much crunch time for the whales,’ he said.

Project Jonah chief executive Kimberly Muncaster told NZ Newswire the restranded whales had moved seven or eight kilometres up the beach, which meant volunteers had to be taken by bus to look after them.” Read more.