About 416 whales were found stranded in New Zealand yesterday, with 250 to 300 already dead.
The Department of Conservation is trying to refloat more than 100 of the living whales back to into the bay from Farewell Spit, and so far 50 have successfully swum out. The others have restranded on the beach.
LIVE: Whales refloated at Farewell Spit, but fears remain they may strand again: https://t.co/HTJ6sXvSAK pic.twitter.com/BJq2W43x2K
— 1News (@1NewsNZ) February 9, 2017
This is the third-largest whale stranding in New Zealand on record since the 1800s. “It can be really quite distressing seeing so many dead whales,” the DOC’s Kath Inwood told AP. “People need to be resilient and handle that and then get on with what needs to be done.”
More than 500 volunteers have already arrived to help—many to create a human chain in the water to stop the whales from going back onshore—and more are expected tomorrow as they try to refloat the whales again. Volunteers also covered the whales in blankets to keep them damp and threw buckets of water on them while they waited for high tide to come.
Project Jonah, a whale and dolphin conservation organization, has been working with the DOC to save the remaining whales and continually posting Facebook updates on its efforts.