Rescue efforts underway to save hundreds of whales stranded on New Zealand beach

Rescue efforts are underway after hundreds of whales were found stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand’s South Island.

According to whale rescue organisation Project Jonah, 416 whales were found stranded at Farewell Spit – 75% of which had already died by the time the stranding was discovered.

More than 500 volunteers turned out to help keep the whales calm and comfortable until an effort to ‘refloat’ them at high tide.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) said more more than 100 whales had been refloated on the high tide on Friday morning, with 50 successfully swimming in the bay but 80-90 getting stranded on the beach again.

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It said the situation would be checked on Saturday morning and there would be another attempt to refloat any remaining stranded whales, but work would not be done overnight as it can be dangerous for people to be close to the whales in the dark.

Andrew Lamason, Operations Manager Takaka, paid tribute to the work done by Project Jonah, which calls itself the emergency service for stranded dolphins and whales.

He said: “Project Jonah has been doing a fantastic job organising the volunteers, providing instruction and safety briefings, and even managing the car parking issues.”

The DOC said this is the third largest recorded whale stranding in New Zealand since data started being collected in the 1800s. In 1918, 1,000 whales were stranded on the Chatham Islands and 450 were beached in Auckland in 1985.

(Top picture: Deb Price/ DOC New Zealand)