A pod of pilot whales that stranded twice outside Juan Fernández' home between Pakawau and Puponga in Golden Bay. Photo: Juan Fernández
A Golden Bay resident was relieved to find a pod of pilot whales had not stranded on the beach in front of his property again today, after several emotional days spent trying to save them.
A pod of around 30 pilot whales first stranded near the Pakawau Inlet on Saturday evening while a smaller pod of 11 pilot whales came ashore near Taupata Point along with a single whale at Paton's Rock, on Monday.
Both pods stranded again several times after being refloated and 15 whales died, including two that were euthanised, before the remaining whales successfully swam back out to sea.
Juan Fernández lives between Pakawau and Puponga in Golden Bay. A dairy farmer, he was up before dawn and discovered the smaller pod had re-stranded again on Tuesday, right in front of his house. He posted on Facebook, asking for people to come and help keep them hydrated.
He said the experience was "super emotional".
"I could hear them crying, communicating [with each other], it was beautiful and sad at the same time."
People from across the top of the South Island and visitors from overseas all responded to the call for help and Fernández opened up a paddock on the farm for them to park in. The group spent hours in the water, working to keep the whales cool before they were refloated that evening.
"It was hard work, beautiful work and it was good to be with them.
"They are very smart animals and as with all animals, they deserve care from us."
Fernández awoke on Wednesday to find the same pod had stranded again, a little further up the beach and once again the call went out for help to keep them cool before another refloat attempt on the high tide late that afternoon.
He said he was pleased to find on Thursday morning the whales had not come ashore and the most recent refloat attempt had been successful.
There had now been four strandings in the region in the last two months.
Whales stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay. Photo: Facebook / Project Jonah
In the first week of January, eight of 10 whales that stranded at Farewell Spit were successfully refloated, while at least 13 died from a larger group that stranded in early December.
They came after a stranding of around 40 pilot whales in Ruakaka, where four died, in late November.
Project Jonah general manager Darren Grover said there had been an amazing response from the public over the last week.
"I'm always pleasantly surprised by the number of people who are able to drop everything, come down and are prepared to work with highly stressed wild animals, out of their natural environment."
Each pod had to be refloated three times and Grover said each morning was treated as a fresh day, with an assessment of the whales' health, the geography of the stranding location and the resource available, with support from Massey University's cetacean ecology research group.
Strandings in several different areas had kept the team incredibly busy, he said.
"We actually had to split our resources, put out the call for more people and manage three stranding sites and a single whale at Paton's Rock that was quite a way away from where we had been working."
Whales stranded near Pakawau, South Island. Photo: Project Jonah
In addition, a clear matriarch or leader could usually be identified in a stranded group, but this was not the case with the larger pod, which may have been one of the reasons it took them several attempts to find their way back out to sea, Grover said.
Until the December stranding, it had been almost four years since whales last washed ashore in Golden Bay and it was becoming harder than ever to predict such events amid the changing oceanic environment, Grover said.
DOC acting operations manager for Golden Bay Andrew Lamason said staff from Motueka and Nelson had been called in to help with the strandings and had put in a huge effort alongside Project Jonah volunteers, mana whenua and members of the public.
He said it was always a possibility the whales would restrand, or wash up dead along the coast, but so far there had been no sign of them.
The dead whales that remained on the beach had been secured, where possible.
"We are asking people to be respectful around these deceased whales and to avoid contact with them."
Dog walkers should be particularly cautious about exercising their dogs off leash, as some pathogens in whales can be dangerous to dogs.
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