Volunteers try to keep alive some of the hundreds of stranded pilot whales after one of the country's largest recorded mass whale strandings on Farewell Split at the top of New Zealand's South Island. (Reuters photo)WELLINGTON - Hundreds of whales died overnight in New Zealand after more than 400 beached, the country's third-largest stranding of whales recorded, New Zealand's Department of Conservation said on Friday. The department discovered 416 pilot whales stranded on Farewell Spit, a beach on the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island on Thursday evening. "This is the third largest recorded whale stranding in New Zealand since data started being collected in the 1800's," the department said in a press release. In February 2015, 198 long finned pilot whales became stranded in the same area.

Source: Bangkok Post February 10, 2017 05:15 UTC