14 DAY TRIAL // News from New Zealand says that a total of 39 long-finned pilot whales have lost their lives after becoming stranded on one of the beaches on the north coast of the country's South Island.
According to The Guardian, some of these whales died of natural causes. However, many of them were shot dead, the same source details.
Specialists who were called at the scene to assess the situation say that, given the place where the whales had become stranded and local weather conditions, guiding the animals back to the ocean would have been impossible.
As they put it, re-floating the animals was not a “viable option.” Hence, they concluded that, under those circumstances, euthanizing the marine mammals was the right thing to do.
A similar incident occurred last year, in early December, when a fairly large pod of short-finned pilot whales became stranded in Florida's Everglades.
Of the over 50 marine mammals that got stuck in that area, some are believed to have figured out a way to return to the ocean.