Lara Robertson, of Dunedin, sings to one of the long-finned pilot whales that became stranded on a remote beach at the top of the South Island on Monday. Those are the lyrics of The Water, by Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling — the song Dunedin woman Lara Robertson sang to help calm some of the 49 long-finned pilot whales stranded on a South Island beach this week. The Department of Conservation was alerted to the mass stranding at the base of Farewell Spit, in Golden Bay, at 9.30am on Monday. Sadly, about 12 more whales died overnight and yesterday morning, Ms Robertson went back out to Farewell Spit to try to help the remaining 28 whales. A mass pilot whale stranding happened on Farewell Spit in February 2017, when an estimated 600-700 whales were beached.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 23, 2021 15:33 UTC