New Zealanders rescued 100 beached whales — and then 240 more washed ashore


Volunteers in New Zealand are struggling to keep pace with hundreds of pilot whales that have accidentally beached themselves and need assistance returning to the sea. A group of more than 400 whales were first found on the beach Friday. About 300 of them died before they could be rescued, but roughly 100 members of the pod were refloated.
Saturday morning, however, about 240 additional pilot whales were beached in the same three-mile stretch. They are mostly not the same as the 100 refloated whales, which were tagged as they were released, but 20 of the 100 did return and had to be euthanized. Fresh rescue efforts remain underway.
The area where the whales are turning up is called Farewell Spit, a long peninsula that forms the boundary of one side of Golden Bay on New Zealand's South Island, where Christchurch is located. "It's a very difficult place if you get lost in there and you are a whale," said Herb Christophers of New Zealand's conservation department. The whales' echolocation ability is inhibited in shallower waters, and Farewell Spit has played host to mass whale beachings before.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Trump says Iran and Israel agreed to ceasefire
Speed Read This followed a night of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and multiple waves of missiles fired by Iran
-
Israel strikes Iran, killing military and nuclear chiefs
Speed Read Israeli officials said the attack was a 'preemptive' strike on Iran's nuclear program
-
Israel deports Thunberg after seizing Gaza aid boat
speed read The Swedish activist was delivering food and medical aid to Palestine, highlighting the growing humanitarian crisis there
-
Colombian senator shot on streets of Bogotá
speed read Miguel Uribe Turbay, who has announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election, was shot at a rally
-
Trump says Putin vowed retaliation for Kyiv strike
speed read The Russian president intends to respond to Ukraine's weekend drone strikes on Moscow's warplanes
-
Dutch government falls over immigration policy
speed read The government collapsed after anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders quit the right-wing coalition
-
South Korea elects liberal Lee as president
speed read Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, was elected president following months of political instability in the wake of Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment
-
Nationalist wins tight Polish presidential election
speed read Karol Nawrocki beat Rafal Trzaskowski in Poland's presidential runoff election