An aerial photo of some of the estimated 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins stranded on the Chatham Islands. Photo: Sam Wild / Supplied via RNZMore than 100 pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins are dead after being stranded on the Chatham Islands. Commercial diver and photographer Sam Wild told RNZ the whales stranded at a northern beach on the main Chatham Island over the weekend. Wild said the Department of Conservation had been to the area the previous day to gather data and euthanise some of the whales. The DOC website describes the Chatham Islands as a mass stranding "hotspot" for pilot whales, adding that the biggest recorded pilot whale stranding was when an estimated 1000 whales stranded on the islands in 1918.

Source: Otago Daily Times November 24, 2020 21:00 UTC