Decision to euthanase whales taken 'too soon'

Thirty-nine pilot whales died as a result of this week's stranding on Farewell Spit. Photo/Department of Conservation

A decision to euthanase 28 pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit may have been made too soon, the Northland co-founder of Whale Rescue says.

Ingrid Visser said: "It's not politically correct, but I have to speak out and say that in 2014 it is unacceptable that the first response to a stranding is a bullet. We know pilot whales, with help, can survive for some time out of the water."

The whales were beached above the high tide mark on Sunday night or Monday morning. That unusually high tide mark was followed by a lower-than-normal tide.

Department of Conservation staff had seen the pod close to the shore on Sunday but high winds prevented them taking to sea to try to turn the mammals away. On Monday morning, staff returned to find 39 whales stranded on the high tide line, 12 of which had already died. The remainder were shot.

Dr Visser said she was familiar with Farewell Spit and had worked on previous whale rescues there.

"It's very unfortunate that a quick decision was made," she said. "DoC is legally mandated to protect marine mammals."

DoC's Golden Bay services manager John Mason said two experienced staff had made the assessment that a refloat was impossible because of the whales' location high up on the beach, low tides and strong winds.

They were stranded about 5km from the base of the 26km long spit.

Mass strandings occur nearly every summer at the whale-trap that is Farewell Spit when pods swim into the relatively shallow water during high tide and get stuck as the tide recedes quickly.