Whale gets a hand

Picture / Brett Phibbs

A gray's beaked whale stranded at Narrow Neck Beach on the North Shore gets hands-on help from Department of Conservation staff, who later managed to refloat it, watched by a crowd of 300.

Last night, the 6m mammal was in the Rangitoto Channel and the DoC staff were hoping it would head to open waters. It was the third beaked whale to become stranded around Auckland and Northland in the past few weeks.

DoC area manager Beau Fraser said it was not known whether the animals were lost or sick. "Whether this can be called a successful refloating, only the next couple of days will tell."