{"id":359738,"date":"2026-01-08T22:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359738\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T22:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:08:11","slug":"mass-whale-stranding-on-farewell-spit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359738\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass whale stranding on Farewell Spit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JV3RR7_whales_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1400\" alt=\"Whales stranded as the sun sets.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nVolunteers stood down by 10pm but promised to be back at first light, alongside Department of Conservation staff.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Project Jonah New Zealand\n<\/p>\n<p>More than 50 pilot whales have stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/thedetail\/540915\/the-mammoth-job-of-managing-stranded-whales\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">working to rescue them<\/a> have stood down for the night.<\/p>\n<p>Project Jonah New Zealand said it was notified of a pod of whales swimming in the shallows and heading towards Farewell Spit early Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JV3RR7_whales_strand_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"576\" height=\"768\" alt=\"Whales stranded in shallow waters.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nVolunteers worked to keep the whales cool throughout the afternoon and uprighted those they could.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Project Jonah New Zealand\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our local medics responded alongside Department of Conservation staff and boat and Manawhenua Ki Mohua but despite best efforts, 53 pilot whales have stranded across two sites on Farewell Spit,&#8221; a Facebook post said.<\/p>\n<p>It said the crew worked to keep the whales cool throughout the afternoon and uprighted those it could.<\/p>\n<p>They had stood down by 10pm.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We will be back at first light alongside Department of Conservation to search the beach for any whales.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, volunteers were sought to help the whales into the evening.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We welcome help at Farewell Spit this evening keeping the whales cool until sunset,&#8221; Project Jonah said. &#8220;Wetsuits are recommended as it is windy and exposed. If coming to help please bring your own supplies as it is an isolated location.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Conservation said Farewell Spit, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/539595\/pilot-whales-restrand-in-golden-bay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">where whales frequently strand<\/a> at the top of the South Island, &#8220;is a naturally occurring &#8220;whale trap&#8221; that occurs along a migratory route for long-finned pilot whales in New Zealand&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The spit hooks around the northern entrance into Golden Bay forming extensive intertidal sand flats flanked by gently shelving waters offshore. Whales may be easily deceived and caught out by the gently sloping tidal flats and a rapidly falling tide.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Pilot whales have strong social bonds and if one whale heads into shallow water, the rest of the pod will follow due to their natural instinct to look after one another.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JV436L_611413100_1321767376657970_3083228857650861313_n_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"More than 50 pilot whales have stranded across two sites on Farewell Spit.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nMore than 50 pilot whales have stranded across two sites on Farewell Spit.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Project Jonah\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Volunteers stood down by 10pm but promised to be back at first light, alongside Department of Conservation staff.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359739,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[4688,4687,50,4689,4686,4684,4685,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-359738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}