Northland's whale stranding has gone global, with hundreds of newspapers, websites and broadcasters reporting the beaching of 58 pilot whales on Karikari Beach and the massive effort to refloat the survivors.
According to news aggregator Google News, more than 950 stories on the stranding and subsequent rescue effort had by yesterday been published on news websites around the world.
The greatest number of reports came from Australia and the US, while the BBC carried a series of photos posted by a traveller who happened to be staying in Doubtless Bay when the stranding was discovered.
The events in the Far North were also reported in exotic locales, with stories published in Nepal's Himalyan Times, the Gulf Times of Qatar and the People's Daily Online of China.
Many of the reports originated from the Wellington office of the US news agency Associated Press, but other major news agencies put out their own versions.
The number of whales stranded was reported variously as 58, 63 and 73, with the number eventually making it back to sea also varying widely from story to story.
Curiously, one German news site headlined the story "58 Pilots Crash into New Zealand".
Whale stranding is omen - see page 4
Stranded whales cause global stir
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