Rescuers formed a human chain to save 200 pilot whales from stranding on a beach in New Zealand where hundreds had already died. The human barrier in the shallows of Golden Bay deterred most of the second pod from beaching and the whales returned to deeper water. Experts believe that they may have been responding to the distress calls of surviving whales from the earlier mass stranding.
Why the whales beached
Another group of 18 pilot whales did beach early yesterday but most were returned to sea at high tide by conservationists, along with some stuck longer on the sands. About 700 whales have come into the shallows on the inland side of Farewell Spit since late on Thursday: 416 have beached and at least 300 of them have