Whales die, two others freed on beach strandings, Papamoa Beach, NZ

28/10/2011

One whale has died but animal paramedics have successfully refloated two others after they became stranded on Papamoa beach in the Bay of Plenty.

DOC staff and volunteers work to refloat a stranded Grays Beaked Whale stranded at Papamoa Beach. – Source: Ross Brown

ROSS BROWN – TEAM EFFORT: DOC staff and volunteers work to refloat a stranded whale at Papamoa Beach.

Project Jonah chief executive Kimberley Muncaster, whose organisation coordinates whale stranding volunteers, said the three Gray’s beaked whales  – one calf and two adults – beached earlier this afternoon and the calf died soon afterwards.

The Conservation Department asked Project Jonah to assemble a team of paramedics, who managed to successfully refloat the two adults.

The dead whale has been taken away for an autopsy by Doc.

It was too early to say whether the strandings were related to oil leaking from the container ship Rena, stranded on the nearby Astrolabe reef.

“It would be ingestion of oil and that sort of thing if it was,” Ms Muncaster said.

A wildlife pathologist is on the beach at the moment trying to determine the the cause of death.

Ms Muncaster said as far as she was aware, there were not any other whales offshore that were in danger of beaching.

“It’s quite common for mums and calves to come in – it could be a calf and mum and aunty.”

All three could be sick, or the adults could have accompanied the juvenile to shroe when it became sick, she said.

Another whale died – a strapped tooth –

was stranded on Te Kaha beach yesterday but that was found to be due to a ship-strike that mangled the whale’s sonar.

stuff.co.nz

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Whale deaths ruled natural causes

SunLive

Read More A post mortem on two deceased whales found on Papamoa Beach has revealed the juveniles did not die due to the oil from container ship Rena. A juvenile Gray’s beaked whale was found dead on Friday, October 28 and was followed by the discovery …

sunlive.co.nz