Whales take to road after becoming stranded at Ninety Mile Beach
Monday, 26 November 2018
A group of eight whales that became stranded on a Far North beach are being loaded onto trailers for a trip to the opposite coast of the North Island.
Marine mammal charity Project Jonah received a call from a member of the public on Sunday night saying the whales were stranded on Ninety Mile Beach in Northland.
After changing weather forecasts foiled their plan to refloat them at their current spot, a decision was made on Monday to load them onto trailers and make a 15km trip over land to Rarawa Beach on the east coast.
'They'll be slowly taken from the west coast to the east but it could take an hour depending on the roads and the whales,' general manager Daren Grover said.
READ MORE: Northland iwi consent to dead sperm whale's stomach being tested
'It's highly stressful for the whales, but they'll be using suitable padding to protect them.'
Originally, the plan had been for the whales to be looked after overnight in their current spot before attempting to refloat them on Tuesday afternoon.
Grover hoped they'd be able to get them back in the water within a few hours of the original timeframe.
Just after 10am on Monday, Project Jonah said 12 whales had been found south of Te Paki Stream and 10 were alive. That number had now reduced to eight.
'The whales appear to be in good condition and are stranded along a 5 kilometre stretch of beach,' Project Jonah said at the time.
'We have mobilised our local medics to the beach to work alongside Department of Conservation, members of the public and other volunteer groups.'
Are you there? Email us on newstips@stuff.co.nz
On Monday evening, DOC were appealing for member of the public to meet at Rarawa Beach Campground from 6:30am on Tuesday to help with the refloat.
Volunteers would not be let in the water without a wetsuit for safety reasons and were asked to bring sheets, shovels and buckets.
The whales were thought to be pygmy killer whales, but species identification was still to be officially determined.
It comes just days after a 15-metre sperm whale died after being stranded at Tokerau Beach in Doubtful Bay, Northland.
The Department of Conservation were notified of the stranding on Friday afternoon, but it died Saturday morning.
A necropsy would be performed and its remains tested for plastic.