Relief as stranded pilot whales refloated for a second time head out to sea

Tuesday, 23 February 2021

Dead pilot whales litter the beach at Farewell Spit on Tuesday, as rescuers come in to shore.

A pod of long-finned pilot whales has successfully made its way offshore early on Tuesday afternoon, after being re-stranded at Farewell Spit for a second time.

Department of Conservation community ranger Andrew Lamason said at 1.50 pm the pod had successfully swum offshore after a human chain made up of volunteers re-floated the whales and pushed them into deeper water, not allowing them to swim back and re-strand.

“Volunteers have been pulled out of the water now, because the whales are swimming below the low tide zone and heading out to sea,” he said.

“That’s really good news; such good news that I'm going home.”

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Rescuers are back on the scene at Farewell Spit, after 28 whales restranded themselves.

* Pilot whales restranded at Farewell Spit

* Human chain of 150 volunteers guide 40 stranded pilot whales back to sea

The whales were looking fatigued when rescuers arrived on Tuesday morning, with some not surviving.

* Freeing Willy: Learning to save whales in a global stranding hotspot

A number of the whales from the original pod have died, but 28 were still alive, and it's hoped will swim to safety.

The pod were re-floated for a second time on Tuesday after re-stranding on Monday night.

One of the long-finned pilot whales, which died from the stranding. The skin of the whale had peeled off due to sunburn.

Department of Conservation spokeswoman Trish Grant said DOC rangers and about 50 volunteers started searching for the whales at first light, and found the pod of surviving 28 whales about 7am.

As they did the day before, volunteers formed a human chain to walk the whales out to deeper water on Tuesday morning – keeping them together as a group to improve their chances of reorienting themselves.

Volunteer Petra Juric of Nelson attends to a juvenile Pilot Whale, one of the 49 that were stranded at Farewell Spit on Monday.

At about 10.30am the volunteers were recalled to the shore to have a rest, after getting the pod out to water which was about chest to neck deep.

Volunteers work to keep stranded whales alive after a stranding at Farewell Spit in February 2021. (Video published February 2021)

A boat with DOC and Project Jonah staff were working to keep the pod together with the volunteers back on land, waiting game to see if the whales were able to make it back out to sea.

The pod did not appear to have moved from the spot where they were herded to on Monday night, still confused and disoriented and getting stranded in virtually the same place the next morning.

A post on the Project Jonah Facebook page said specialist equipment was being used in this refloat attempt and Massey university researchers were on site assessing the whales. It said the whales were looking fatigued and not showing huge drive to head out to deeper water.

The pod of 49 whales had been found stranded near the base of Farewell Spit at about 9.30am on Monday morning.

Volunteers worked through the day and into the night on Monday to keep the whales wet and alive.

Over the course of the day, about 150 volunteers worked to keep the whales cool and wet as they prepared to re-float them on the high tide.

As the high tide came in on Monday evening, roughly 38 of the 49 long-finned pilot whales that had been stranded were encircled by the human chain, after being re-grouped by the volunteers.

Some volunteers had been with their whales for up to six hours, dousing them in buckets of water, digging holes around them to fill up with water, and covering them in wet sheets and towels.

The pod of about 49 pilot whales first stranded themselves on Farewell Spit on Monday morning.

By the time they were refloated on Monday, about 38 of the 49 whales had survived.

At about 6.30pm on Monday, a human chain of volunteers helped guide the pod back out to sea in chest-deep water.

Volunteers wearing wetsuits sat in seawater up to their necks and held the whales to stop them from swimming away.

Some were getting frisky and thrashing about, while baby whales darted around volunteers in the water, looking for their parents and family members.

DOC whale stranding operations manager Darren Foxwell said first they had to re-float the animals to let them get their balance back, and then let them go as a pod.

“So they re-orientate, and we keep them together, otherwise there's a risk of re-stranding if they take off on their own.”

Project Jonah communications and volunteer co-ordinator Louisa Hawkes said the main concern for whales was overheating, because the whales were black, which attracted the heat, and they were covered in a layer of blubber.

About 2pm, a woman who was standing close to the rear of one of the largest whales was struck repeatedly by its tail, when the animal began flapping violently in distress, breaking her ankle.

The volunteer was seen crawling away and clutching her ankle, with others rushing to help, including a doctor who was also helping at the scene.

She was driven to the base of the spit and treated by an ambulance crew before being flown to Nelson Hospital by rescue helicopter.

The last mass stranding at Farewell Spit was in 2017, when an estimated 600-700 whales stranded. About 400 were successfully re-floated, but approximately 250 died.