
More than 100 volunteers helped Conservation Department staff successfully refloat 65 pilot whales that restranded in Golden Bay yesterday morning.
But 17 of the original pod of 82 whales that first became stranded at Puponga Point on Friday afternoon died during the weekend.
Three groups of whales beached over a 10-kilometre stretch from Triangle Flat, at the base of Farewell Spit, to Pakawau yesterday morning were kept hydrated by volunteers until being refloated on the high tide at 12.30pm.
Golden Bay DOC manager John Mason praised the big community effort and Project Jonah, a group of volunteers trained in saving whales, for the operation's success. "We were really thrilled.
"Considering the number of times the whales kept coming ashore, it was a very good result."
Mr Mason said the first group of whales to be refloated off Pakawau milled around in the water, waiting until the last group were refloated before they all swam off to deeper water. "It appears the whales must have a very well-developed social network," he said.
The whales were a mixed group of males, females, and calves. Two boats, including one loaned by a resident, were used to coax the whales further out to sea. DOC staff are still on alert in case any whales restrand.
Many visitors to the region helped to keep the stranded whales cool with wet sheets, constantly pouring on buckets of water. Volunteer Ryan O'Donnell, from Dunedin, said the whale rescue operation was an "amazing experience to be involved in". "I've swum with dolphins before but I'd never even seen a whale," he said.
More volunteers in wetsuits helped to coax the whales into deeper water as the tide came in. DOC ranger Simon Walls, who assisted in the rescue, instructed people to leave the whales in the position they'd been found in, rather than trying to move them on the sand.
"New evidence suggests that moving stranded whales causes them a lot of stress and pain," he said. Pilot whales are the most common whale species seen off the New Zealand coast. Source