Ten pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay, refloat planned for high tide

• Ten pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit; eight are still alive.
• Volunteers are keeping the whales cool, aiming to refloat them at high tide.
• Golden Bay Operations Manager Ross Trotter noted signs of previous strandings on the whales.

By RNZ

Ten pilot whales have stranded at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay.

Eight were still alive after stranding yesterday.

The Department of Conservation said it would aim to refloat the whales at high tide this afternoon.

Ten pilot whales have stranded at Farewell Spit in Golden Bay. Photo / RNZ

Golden Bay operations manager Ross Trotter says he’s unsure if it’s the same pod that beached at the spit a month ago, but says it is clear this is not the pod’s first stranding.

“They are showing signs of having been sunburned and have healed over, so possibly in the last few weeks they have been beached somewhere else.”

Trotter said plenty of volunteers were keeping the whales cool, with the aim to refloat the pod around high tide this afternoon.

A pod of pilot whales was refloated several times in December.

Not all survived.

Among those that did, some were seen in the area even after being refloated again.