Pilot whales stranded at Farewell Spit, N.Z.
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A mass stranding of whales in New Zealand has killed 36 pilot whales and threatens the lives of 40 more, according to an Associated Press report passed along by the Boston Globe.
A spokesman for the New Zealand Department of Conservation said 99 of the whales had run themselves aground on Farewell Spit on South Island. He said volunteers had refloated 17 of the whales, which successfully swam to deeper water, but that 40 others that were swimming on Tuesday afternoon became stranded again as the tide went out.
Volunteers were keeping the stranded whales cool and wet through the day in hopes that the animals would be taken out to sea on the next high tide, according to the report.
