New Zealand‘s Department of Conservation announced Wednesday that nearly 500 pilot whales died after they became stranded.
The whales were beached on the Chatham Islands, which are located nearly 500 miles east of the two main islands of New Zealand.
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Dave Lundquist, technical adviser marine for the New Zealand Department of Conservation, said in a press release Wednesday that it was a “sad event” but that euthanasia was the best option for the whales.
“We do not actively refloat whales on the Chatham Islands due to the risk of shark attack to humans and the whales themselves, so euthanasia was the kindest option. All the stranded pilot whales are now deceased, and their bodies will be allowed to decompose naturally,” Lundquist said. “This is a sad event for the team and the community, with many people being affected by it.”
The beached whales were in two groups, with approximately 240 whales being stranded on Chatham Island Friday and almost 240 more whales being stranded on Pitt Island Monday, per the DOC.
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The DOC says that pilot whales strand themselves often, with the largest recorded pilot whale stranding being in 1918 at the Chatham Islands, where an estimated 1,000 were beached.
The International Whaling Commission says pilot whales are the species most often involved in “mass strandings,” with theories on why they strand themselves ranging from navigation accidents to abnormalities in Earth’s geomagnetic field.
