125 Pilot Whales Die On New Zealand Beaches

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after stranding on beaches over the weekend – but vacationers and conservation workers managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported well out to sea.

Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.

"Some 63 pilot whales stranded ... but it looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones," Department of Conservation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod swam out to sea.

Bolten said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbor and they couldn't find their way out again.

Meanwhile on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died Saturday, conservation officials said Monday.

Golden Bay biodiversity program manager Hans Stoffregen said they were discovered by a tourist plane pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived.

"They were in bad shape. By the time we got there two-thirds of them had already died. We had to euthanize the rest," he said.

The whales had been out of the water for a long time.

"It has been quite hot and they were very distressed. You could see the pain and suffering in their eyes," he was quoted telling the Southland Times newspaper

Because the site is part of a nature reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they stranded, Stoffregen said.

Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.

Comments

[earto44]

11:07 AM on 02/15/2010

It is Sonar. We know it.

[gadunz]

07:20 PM on 12/30/2009

Those blaming NZ strandings on US subs are full of shhit.

In 1984, Prime Minister David Lange barred nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships from using New Zealand ports or entering New Zealand waters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand%27s_nuclear-free_zone

Offshore odontocete (toothed whales and dolphins) have been mass strandings since long before the beginning of recorded history; thus, any mass stranding theory that ties this mystery to modern man (sonar for example) must be rejected unless a direct association can be shown between modern practices and historical phenomena.
http://www.deafwhale.com/stranded_whale/theories.htm

[PetrBuben]

04:30 PM on 01/03/2010

sure mass strandings are naturally caused by disease and distress, but lately it has been proven that powerful new military sonars are shattering whales', dolphins' inner ears, cause bleeding, disorientation and death.

Sonars are deadly loud for hundreds of miles. /500, who knows/

what is needed is a necropsy of inner ear for establishing the cause of death.

http://worldnewsreport.wordpress.com

[PetrBuben]

04:32 PM on 01/03/2010

correction - sorry the link is http://worldnewsrecord.wordpress.com :]

[TheBlackCat]

03:34 PM on 12/30/2009

Whales are such beautiful, intelligent, and social creatures. It really is just so tragic when things like this happen.

My father is greatly interested in the history of whaling, and it just breaks my heart when I see pictures from the 1800s that show just how numerous whales used to be. You'll see a huge stretch of ocean which will LITERALLY have thousands upon thousands of whales gathered in one place- and that was common place! It's one of the reasons whaling was so successful, whales were just so numerous. Even among species which are more numerous than others, their numbers are still so drastically depleted. Thank goodness the world came to its senses before we killed them all (though Japan still needs to get with the program). Like the buffallo and the alligator, we finally realized the gravity of what we were doing just before it was too late. Let's hope the whales one day have made the rebound in population that the buffallo and alligator have.

[gjohnthehorrible]

02:15 AM on 12/30/2009

oh no its global warming, time to send Al Gore more money.

[arlandbaee]

09:27 PM on 12/29/2009

Whales are the most sensitive animals to low frequency vibrations. They utilize low frequency sound waves to communicate, navigate and search for others of their species. It is not unheard of for whales to beach themselves due to underwater earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural phenomenon, but it is also true that low frequency sound bursts are a common military tool used for long range sonar detection and it is also not unheard of that these low frequency bursts disrupt a whales natural 'hearing' and can, in effect, 'deafen' a whale.

Everyone knows that whales "SEE" with sound, so imagine if you were an air breathing mammal swimming along and you suddenly lose your ability to see????? What would you do? If I was crippled that way I know what I would do, i would get into shallow water before I drowned.

You go blind for a day and see what your reaction is!

[LeeCalif]

06:15 PM on 12/28/2009

43 were 'coaxed' back out to sea. How naive. Their eardrums have probably been exploded due to
Navy sonar. Sonar is unbearable the way different Navys, especially the US, practice maneuvers.

It reaches 100s of miles and is deafening and non-stop many times. The animals try to escape before being rendered deaf with their eardrums exploding.

Thanks Navy for f ing up. Stop your pathetic excuses, you p..i.g..s.

[WeleaseWoger]

03:01 PM on 12/29/2009

"Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded." Apparently all the scientists needed to do was consult with LeeCalif who clearly harbors a distaste for the US Navy and can feel free to leave the country, the sooner the better.

[Patrick McCarthy]

03:12 PM on 12/29/2009

And you are welcome to go down with the sinking ship of people who refuse to accept what is so obvious that one need not be a scientist to make the inference. FYI an inference is an educated guess based on evidence that will be proven true at a later date. Stay tuned. Any scientist who 'can't explain it' is being bought off be a special interest for the Military Industrial Complex. This isn't about America, it's about science aka the truth.

[BigShotBob]

04:46 PM on 12/28/2009

Pilot Whales are not endangered, depleted, a species of concern, or even proposed as a candidate for endangered or depleted status. Pilot Whales are also notorious for mass beachings. The Puritans called them "grampuses" and viewed a mass beaching as an opportunity, not a tragedy. Point being, this type of phenomenon is nothing new, and the incident in NZ may have been completely unrelated to human activity.

[PetrBuben]

05:41 PM on 12/28/2009

it is proven that new, extremely powerful underwater sonars, to detect new generations of very quiet nuclear submarines, are causing injuries and bleeding of inner ear and brains - orientation mechanisms of whales and dolphins.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS352US352&q=whale+beaching+loud+sonar+ear&aq=f&oq=&aqi= --- look at wikipedia at "Sonar" paragraph

http://friendfeed.com/petrbuben

[BigShotBob]

05:02 PM on 12/29/2009

This from your link: "The overwhelming majority of the whales that are involved in beachings associated with active SONAR tests are Cuvier's Beaked Whales."

These were Pilot Whales of the long-finned variety, not Cuvier's Beaked Whales. Thanks for your (presumably unintentional) support of my point.

[Singing Sparrow]

08:59 AM on 12/29/2009

I doubt that this was a natural phenomena even though someone pulls in historical information to make it seem that these whales are just stupid or someone else brings up that they are not endangered so WTF!?
We know that the world is now insane and creating things like the sonar that drives whales and dolphins,etc crazy with pain and fear. Wonder what is worth protecting with this type of torture?

[BigShotBob]

04:57 PM on 12/29/2009

Doubt all you want. I am not discounting the possibility that these whales beached themselves due to human activity. But the fact remains that whale beachings, even mass beachings, are fairly common historically (Pilot Whales seem especially prone, for some reason), and occur with - and without - human influence.

Some animals are, by their lights, stupid. Others are simply unlucky. And?

What's worth protecting with the sonar that might, or might not, have caused these deaths? How about the computer screen you're staring at, the car you drive (or bicycle you ride), the gasoline in the car's tank, the oil that heats your house, and a good portion of the food that you eat? Worthwhile enough for you? 80% of all trade is conducted in ships.

[royevatom]

02:35 PM on 12/28/2009

It is a Profound Protest and reflects deeply on the failure of human beings to be caretakers of their own planet..

[patches12]

01:41 PM on 12/28/2009

Its the Republicans... more specifically.. Bush's fault!!

[PetrBuben]

05:44 PM on 12/28/2009

yes. ...... the insane arms races, and wars of aggression, occupations of republican military industrial complex.
http://costofwar.com

[tazdelaney]

12:45 PM on 12/28/2009

i appreciate the mention of the HAARP here, but the much greater likelihood is that these whales sonar systems were disrupted by navy nad/or oil company sonar systems which are the usual cause of such mass beachings.the navy and oil companies just refuse to stop their ocean-wide sonar scans. it would be justice to use sonic weapons on them and see how they like it.

HAARP... for 30 years the US government has been very hush about that project; saying only that it is 'producing beneficial weather effects.' anyone seen any beneficial weather effects in the past 30 years.could it be that HAARP is a major source of global warming what with its microwave beaming of the ionosphere with tesla technologies? perhaps this would explain why every time we turn around the warming has accelerated beyond expectations? while for years the only installation was in alaska; in the late 1990s, it was quietly, virtually secretly, expanded to an array of dishes across canada. farmers were summarily evicted and the locations are guarded. some whistleblowers have said it is capable of turning a large area into a frying griddle.others suggest that it can broadcast at the precise brainwave of human thought... could turn the island of japn, for instane, into a land of temporary idiots or geniuses. port thoughts into a billion people's minds? who knows what the mad scientists have in store for us. and the whales or any other living thing.

[PetrBuben]

05:35 PM on 12/28/2009

any resources, links on this? thanks.
http://twitter.com/911news

[PetrBuben]

11:01 AM on 12/28/2009

Propaganda! Not really - it is a public knowledge that whale, dolphins beaching is caused by underwater huge blasts by US military submarines sonars - underwater radars.

These massively loud underwater sounds shatter animals' inner ears, part of brains, cause bleeding, and animals are unable to navigate, even if they are pushed out to see. They die from their injuries.

It is true that US military is tying to address the situation and prevent this painful killing of animals.
It really is similar to standing a couple steps of distance from huge, deafening roar of rocket or a big jet.

http://WorldNewsRecord.wordpress.com

[Caru]

07:57 AM on 12/29/2009

NEW ZEALAND! No US craft anywhere near there, this was a completely natural event.

[Patrick McCarthy]

05:38 PM on 12/30/2009

oh you silly child go back to your building blocks

[PetrBuben]

03:37 PM on 01/03/2010

Hi!
Independent, pro peace New Zealand direction needs to be acknowledged and applauded!
Happy New Year ! :]

Now couple points.
If there were US military craft, submarines included, not many people might know about it.
What about other military vessels - http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-10-28/33859.html - Australia's?
Constant development of new technology makes military sonars ever more powerful and extra long distance reaching /400 miles/ .

How about air guns seismic surveys? it's the oil industry. ......"Pneumatic air-guns are the most common energy source for marine geophysical surveys. These seismic surveys are usually conducted by towing an array of air-guns just below the surface behind a small ship" .. .. see http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/species/cetaceans/seismic-sonar.html

Great resource - http://www.ny4whales.org/sonar.html

http://WorldNewsRecord.wordpress.com

[Bobbins]

10:59 AM on 12/28/2009

One can only wonder if this is the result of HAARP. I believe there is a facility in New Zealand.
This would be this would be one of the most sensitive species to this weapon.