Seaquake Causes Three Sperm Whales to Beach at Golden Bay, New Zealand (November 22, 2014)
THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY WHALES BEACH THEMSELVES In what became a Golden Bay, New Zealand community event, hundreds of people turned up at Rototai beach (48.829S by 172.828E) to see and touch three dead sperm whales that had become stranded on Saturday night, November 22, 2014. The whales, which ranged in length from 14 to 17 meters long were located about one km out on tidal flats. The three whales were towed by tug boat to Farewell Spit last night, once the tide was high enough to move them. Department of Conservation biodiversity programme manager Hans Stoffregen said DOC had received a phone call from Rototai residents saying there were whales milling about at sea. "This morning we got a call from residents saying they were stranded." The quake that caused this event occurred on October 5th at 8:24 pm Wellington time. The stranding occurred 48 days after their injury, which explains why they died so quickly after stranding. I suspect they became trapped inside a c...