- WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Eighty
pilot whales have died after stranding themselves on a beach on a southern
New Zealand island, a wildlife official said Wednesday.
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- Conservation workers and residents are trying to save
survivors of a pod of 159 pilot whales that swam ashore on Stewart Island,
about 20 miles south of the South Island, Department of Conservation spokesman
Tom O'Connor said.
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- "They're pretty distressed...there's no wind and
swell to splash on them so they're not in good order," he said.
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- An attempt will be made to refloat the whales, which
look like dolphins and grow up to 16 feet long and weigh as much as three
tons, at the next high tide.
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- New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale
strandings, which are thought to occur when the animals become disoriented
or when a dominant animal leads others ashore.
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- But the strandings are not clearly understood by scientists
who believe illness or other types of trauma might also play a role.
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