Stranded whales die in Chathams

Press, 17 January 1986, Page 1

Stranded whales die in Chathams

Two hundred and seventy pilot whales either died or were shot after they were stranded at Petra Bay, in the Chatham Islands, on Tuesday. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ fisheries officer at the Chathams, Mr Barry Lanuzue, said it was decided to shoot the surviving whales at 7.30 a.m., half an hour after they were found. Most of them were dead or dying. He said the tide was coming in, and

there was no way the whales could be rescued, “You either leave them on the beach to suffer or you put them out of their misery.” A Christchurch spokesman for the Ministry, Mr Robin Read, said the island did not have the facilities to rescue the whales. There, were some boats, tractors and manpower, but the beach was not suitable for boats to get close enough to tow the whales out. Mr

Lanuzue said the problem was made worse because the whales were crammed into a small space. “There were 270 beasts in a strip 70 metres long,” he said. “We probably could have saved some of the smaller whales but these were smothered underneath the larger animals.” A livestock officer, Mr Rod Banbury, helped Mr Lanuzue to shoot the whales, using a highpowered rifle.

Mr Lanuzue said disposing of the whale carcases had been an unpleasant job. He and Mr Banbury have spent two days driving bulldozers to shift the dead whales into big holes dug on the beach. The whales had started to decay, but it was hoped they would be buried today. “Most people find it hard to stomach,” he said. “I don’t think we’d be able to go back the day after (today)”

It is common for pilot whales to strand themselves on the Chatham Islands. Mr Lanuzue estimated 500 would have beached themselves there in the last two years. Island residents worked hard to rescue a school of dolphins beached along with the pilot whales. Mr Lanuzue said about 80 people worked to float the dolphins on Tuesday. A resident, who did not wish to be named, said

dragging the dolphins out to sea was very tiring work, as they kept swimming back to shore. “We might have had to push the same one out six times, but we kept persevering,” she said. “Later a boat came in and towed some of them right out.” Eleven of the dolphins survived. Four died. Mr Lanuzue said he had seen the dolphins swimming in the bay yesterday morning.