There has been another mass stranding of pilot whales on the Chatham Islands.
Reports from last week have recorded that around 500 whales have been stranded on Rangiauria/Pitt Island.
The strandings occurred over one week during the recent school holidays.
Rangiauria/Pitt Island is about 40km south of where the whales were stranded on Friday.
Unfortunately, when strandings occur on the Chatham Islands whales are not refloated due to the risk of shark attacks on people as well as on the whales themselves.
Therefore, the whales that have stranded themselves have been euthanised by experts from DOC.
Whale strandings are not uncommon on the Chatham Islands.
The largest recorded pilot whale stranding on Rēkohu occurred in 1918, when an estimated 1000 whales died.
