Darren Grover, chief executive of Project Jonah, a non-profit group that helps save whales, said none of the dolphins washed ashore could have been saved, and all either died naturally or were euthanized. For the AP news agency.
Dolphins washed ashore in the Chatham Islands, which are home to about 600 people and lie about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of New Zealand’s main islands.
According to the Ministry of the Environment, 232 dolphins washed ashore at Tubuangi Beach on Friday and another 245 dolphins washed up in Waihair Bay on Monday. The deaths come two weeks after nearly 200 bottlenose dolphins died in Australia after being washed ashore on a remote Tasmanian beach.
Although these are normal occurrences, it is still sad and difficult for the helpers
– wrote the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
Grover said that because of the remoteness of the site and the presence of sharks, they were unable to muster volunteers to put the dolphins back into the water as they had done in the past.
In the Chatham Islands, due to the danger of sharks attacking both humans and dolphins, we cannot perform rescue operations, so we had no choice but to euthanize the animals
– said Dave Lundquist, a marine adviser to the ministry.
