Whales stranded in Golden Bay, volunteers welcomed
Volunteers work to save pilot whales stranded in Golden Bay overnight. Photo: Tim Kolk.
Thirty-two pilot whales were stranded on Puponga Beach early this morning and with high tide not until 2pm, there is real concern for their wellbeing.
Three of the whales have already been euthanized by a Department of Conservation and others are being monitored.
Project Jonah is on site coordinating an effort to keep the whales upright and cool before an attempted refloating of the whales this afternoon.
"We welcome help this morning to upright the whales and keep them cool and then those with wetsuits will be needed from midday to assist with the refloat. Its windy so please bring appropriate gear to keep yourself warm. Whales are stranded in Pakawau, west of the campground," said Project Jonah on its Facebook page this morning.
The whales were refloated at around 1pm this afternoon however there is a risk that they could re-strand themselves tonight.
At one point this afternoon there were several hundred people helping the whales.