{"id":359976,"date":"2026-01-09T01:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T01:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359976\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T01:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T01:08:08","slug":"mass-whale-stranding-on-farewell-spit-call-for-volunteers-to-help-creatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359976\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass whale stranding on Farewell Spit, call for volunteers to help creatures"},"content":{"rendered":"

RNZ<\/p>\n

8 Jan, 2026 08:00 AMQuick Read<\/p>\n

Subscribe to listenAccess to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.Subscribe now<\/p>\n

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More than 50 pilot whales have stranded across two sites on Farewell Spit. Photo \/ Supplied \/ Project Jonah<\/p>\n

More than 50 pilot whales have stranded on Farewell Spit as volunteers work to rescue them.<\/p>\n

Project Jonah New Zealand said on its Facebook page that early Thursday afternoon it was notified of a pod of whales swimming in the shallows and heading towards Farewell Spit.<\/p>\n

\n \u201cOur local medics responded
\n 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,\u201d it said.\n <\/p>\n

Volunteers were being sought<\/a> Thursday evening to help the whales.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome help at Farewell Spit this evening keeping the whales cool until sunset. Wetsuits are recommended as it is windy and exposed. If coming to help please bring your own supplies as it is an isolated location.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RNZ 8 Jan, 2026 08:00 AMQuick Read Subscribe to listenAccess to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[25272,28559,138099,436,4849,30082,45052,1501,6903,10942,28654,90,138100,120348,35498,18543,17062,1850,56,54,55,78026,34850,11299,4407,1908],"class_list":["post-359976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-call","tag-creatures","tag-farewell","tag-for","tag-have","tag-help","tag-mass","tag-more","tag-on","tag-pilot","tag-rescue","tag-science","tag-spit","tag-stranded","tag-stranding","tag-than","tag-them","tag-to","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-volunteers","tag-whale","tag-whales","tag-wildlife","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359976","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=359976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}