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Nearly 150 pilot whales wash ashore on remote New Zealand island

By Nicholas Sakelaris

Nov. 26 (UPI) -- Nearly 150 pilot whales were found beached on the shore at Stewart Island in southern New Zealand over the weekend and by Monday, they were all dead.

There were actually two pods of beached whales found Saturday night by a camper in the area. Half of the 145 whales were already dead when they were discovered. The remote location in Mason Bay made rescuing the remaining whales difficult so the decision was made to euthanize them.

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"Sadly, the likelihood of being able to successfully re-float the remaining whales was extremely low," Ren Leppens, Department of Conservation Rakiura operations manager, said in a statement. "The remote location, lack of nearby personnel and the whales' deteriorating condition meant the most humane thing to do was to euthanize. However, it's always a heartbreaking decision to make."

The DOC worked with the local Maori tribe on the next steps--they bury the remains of beached whales according to their traditions.

Beached whales were reported elsewhere around the country over the weekend but they aren't related to the massive sighting at Mason Bay.

Whales getting stranded is a common occurrence in New Zealand with about 85 incidents a year. A mass sighting like this is rare, the DOC said. Factors like sickness, navigational error, geographical features, rapidly falling tide, extreme weather or being chased by a predator can cause sea mammals to beach themselves.

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Last year, 400 pilot whales were beached in Golden Bay, also in southern New Zealand, the third largest mass stranding in the country's history.

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