Are 400 whales in the coast of New Zealand – The Universal

Cheree Morrison was near a remote beach of New Zealand when he heard gasps and soft squeaks in the darkness. At dawn of Friday, he realized the magnitude of the carnage: more than 400 whales had run aground.

Some 275 of the pilot whales were already dead when Morrison and two colleagues found themselves at Farewell Spit, at the tip of the South Island.

In a matter of hours, hundreds of farmers, tourists and teenagers hurried to keep alive some 140 whales, something which the authorities described as the worst grounding of these mammals that have been seen.

Morrison, a writer and editor of magazine, stumbled upon the whales after making a trip before dawn, accompanied by a photographer and a guide to capture the red glow of the sun.

“you Could hear the noise of splashing, trying to clear his vents, his sighs,” he said. “With the young people was the worst. Crying is the only way to describe it.”

The volunteers formed a human chain on the beach in a desperate attempt to save dozens of whales.

The corpses of whales, adult and young were scattered over hundreds of metres, in some parts three or four of them piled into the interior of the sea. Volunteers with wetsuits and buckets in hand they worked to keep alive the survivors, stranded in an area that when you die confuses the whales and has been the scene of several grounding mass.

Kath Inwood, community agent of the Conservation Department, said about 300 volunteers had arrived at the beach to support the workers of the agency.

They have reflotado to some of the whales at high tide, said Inwood and formed a chain to try to prevent nadaran to the shore again. Others stayed alive, but stuck.

“you Can be really quite distressing to see so many whales killed,” said the agent. “People have to be strong and handle that and then continue with what needs to be done”.

he Added that the volunteers were keeping the whales surviving wet and cold putting blankets on top and mojándolas with buckets full of water.

The high tide allowed the volunteers their only opportunity of the day to help some whales. If the animals encallaran again, the volunteers would have to wait until the next high tide on Saturday.

Inwood said that most of the years occur grounding of whales on Farewell Spit, but the magnitude of this time has been shocking. He said that farmers and other local residents were helping and that also was the coming of people from other parts of the country.

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