XPost: alt.home.repair, alt.politics.scorched-earth, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: uk.legal, alt.politics.uk   
   From: burfordTjustice@tues.uk   
      
   Who do these people think they are to play God and interfere with   
   nature and what it wants to do. Where are the riots telling these   
   people to leave the whales along and let nature take its course??   
      
   More whales swim aground in New Zealand, bringing total to 650   
      
   Volunteers attend to some of the hundreds of stranded pilot whales   
   still alive after one of the country's largest recorded mass whale   
   stranding, in Golden Bay, at the top of New Zealand's South Island.    
      
   WELLINGTON, New Zealand –  A new pod of 240 whales swam aground at a   
   remote New Zealand beach on Saturday just hours after weary volunteers   
   managed to refloat a different group of whales following an earlier   
   mass stranding.   
      
   In total, more than 650 pilot whales have beached themselves along a 5   
   kilometer (3 mile) stretch of coastline over two days on Farewell Spit   
   at the tip of the South Island. About 335 of the whales are dead, 220   
   remain stranded, and 100 are back at sea.   
      
   Department of Conservation Golden Bay Operations Manager Andrew Lamason   
   said they are sure they're dealing with a new pod because they had   
   tagged all the refloated whales from the first group and none of the   
   new group had tags.   
      
   The news was devastating for hundreds of volunteers who had come from   
   around the country to help with the initial group of 416 stranded   
   whales that was found early Friday, many of them already dead.   
      
   Volunteers are planning to return Sunday to help refloat as many   
   healthy whales as they can.   
      
   Lamason said about 20 of the new group were euthanized by conservation   
   workers because they were in poor condition and more would likely need   
   to be killed Sunday.   
      
   Rescuers had been hopeful earlier Saturday after efforts to refloat the   
   initial group of whales had gone well, following a frustrating day on   
   Friday.   
      
   Lamason said improved weather and crystal clear water had helped with   
   the rescue attempt. He said about 100 surviving whales from the initial   
   group were refloated, and dozens of volunteers had formed a human chain   
   in the water to prevent them from beaching again.   
      
   He said volunteers were warned about the possibility of stingrays and   
   sharks, after one of the dead whales appeared to have bite marks   
   consistent with a shark. He said there had been no shark sightings.   
      
   Officials will soon need to turn to the grim task of disposing of   
   hundreds of carcasses.   
      
   Lamason said one option was to tether the carcasses to stakes or a boat   
   in the shallow tidal waters and let them decompose. The problem with   
   towing them out to sea or leaving them was that they could become   
   gaseous and buoyant, and end up causing problems by floating into   
   populated bays.   
      
   Farewell Spit, a sliver of sand that arches like a hook into the Tasman   
   Sea, has been the site of previous mass strandings. Sometimes described   
   as a whale trap, the spit's long coastline and gently sloping beaches   
   seem to make it difficult for whales to navigate away from once they   
   get close.   
      
   There are different theories as to why whales strand themselves, from   
   chasing prey too far inshore to trying to protect a sick member of the   
   group or escaping a predator.   
      
   New Zealand has one of the highest rates of whale strandings in the   
   world, and Friday's event was the nation's third-biggest in recorded   
   history. The largest was in 1918, when about 1,000 pilot whales came   
   ashore on the Chatham Islands. In 1985, about 450 whales stranded in   
   Auckland.   
      
   Pilot whales grow to about 7.5 meters (25 feet) and are common around   
   New Zealand's waters.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)