'Whales' Manage To Self-Rescue During New Zealand Stranding; Majority Makes It Back To The Ocean

An estimated of 200 whales managed to swim away from Farewell Spit in New Zealand over the weekend.

According to a report, over 650 whales were stranded on the Farewell Spit over the past few days. There were already 350 that died because of being stranded. There were volunteer rescuers on Saturday and when they came back on Sunday, almost all of the whales stranded were already gone.

There were 17 that were left behind. In fact, Herb Christophers, a spokesman at the Department of Conservation, shared that there were 240 whales left stranded over the weekend. The team has been fearful that all 240 will die the following day. However, an estimate of 200 or more of these whales was able to self-rescue and swim their way back into the ocean.

From the start that there were 650 whales stranded, the volunteers were able to rescue more than 80 of them. They were able to help these whales swim back into the ocean. The volunteers tried to form a human chain on Sunday in order for the whales to stay put and not reach the beach.

The Department of Conservation of New Zealand noted that this stranding has been the second largest in the history of New Zealand. It already has been cleared and the Farewell Spit has been free of whales being stranded.

Meanwhile, in the coming days, the Department of conservation of New Zealand will have to do more work in cleaning up the carcasses of the whales that did not make it to the weekend. In the days when the whales were stranded, humans had been doing everything to soothe the whales.

They had been singing songs to the whales and trying to comfort these stranded mammals. The incident has been big for the people in New Zealand.