As many as 145 pilot whales have died after becoming stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand on Saturday evening. A hiker at Mason Bay on the remote Stewart Island discovered the two pods of the whales, which were located approximately a mile from each other. Roughly half of the whales were already dead by the time they were found, leaving officials from the New Zealand Department of Conservation with the “heartbreaking decision” to euthanize the remainder. “Sadly, the likelihood of being able to successfully re-float the remaining whales was extremely low,” said Ren Leppens, the department’s operations manager. “The remote location, lack of nearby personnel and the whales’ deteriorating condition meant the most humane thing to do was euthanise.”

Source: Huffington Post November 26, 2018 01:18 UTC