New Zealand: 125 pilot whales die on beaches

Coromandel peninsula, New Zealand: Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after getting stranded on the beach over the weekend, but vacationers and conservation workers on Sunday managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported well out to sea.

Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.

"We've been here probably about three and a half, four hours and we've been just listening to instructions and yeah, trying to keep them as wet as possible and comfortable," volunteer Deanna Pandy told New Zealand television.

Conservation officials said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbour and they couldn't find their way out again.

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On Monday, more than 20 whales were buried by local Coromandel Maori. Meanwhile on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died on Saturday, conservation officials said on Monday.

Officials said they were discovered by a tourist plane pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived. Because the site is part of a nature reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they stranded, officials said.

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Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.