Nearly 250 whales washed ashore on Pitt Island in New Zealand, days after 215 whales died in the same area, BTA reported.
Conservationists say that last Monday there was a report of a mass ejection of killer whales on the coast of the island. On Saturday, 215 fin whales died on Chatham Island, about 40 kilometers from where the whales were recently spotted.
Project Jonah, a marine mammal rescue charity, says due to the risk to animals and people in the area, efforts are rarely made to return whales to the water if they have washed ashore.
There is only one Department of Conservation hunter on Pitt Island, so a team from Chatham was mobilized.
“This is an extremely isolated and remote part of the world, with a small population and a known habitat for great white sharks, which pose a danger to both humans and whales,” Project John said in a Facebook post.
Rangers had to kill live gringos off the coast in Chatham on Saturday.
Throwing out whales is not something unusual for Fr. Chatham, the largest was in 1918, when more than 1,000 whales died on land.
The group of Chatham Islands is located 840 kilometers from the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand.