Authorities announced, Wednesday, that a hundred dolphins, round-headed and nose, have landed and died in remote Chatham Islands, 800 miles off the east coast of New Zealand.
Most of them were stranded early at the weekend, and rescue units’ work was hampered by the fact that the islands were far from everything.
According to the Environment Authority, 97 round-headed dolphins and 3 bottlenose dolphins died as a result of their landing. Rescue units were notified of the accident on Sunday.
„There were only 26 dolphins alive at that time, and most of them seemed very weak. They were put to sleep due to the harsh sea conditions and because great white sharks almost certainly awaited them, which are always drawn to the area because of this huge landing.Said Jimma Welch is an expert on the Environment Agency.
Mass landings are very common on the Chatham Islands, and in 1918 one such case killed nearly a thousand animals. Currently, marine biologists don’t know exactly why.
In late September, hundreds of dolphins died in shallow waters off the coast of Australia during one of the largest mass dolphin deaths in the world.
Cover photo illustration.
