ID :
213203
Fri, 10/28/2011 - 12:55
Auther :

Whales dies in Bay of Plenty stranding

SYDNEY (AAP) - Oct 28 - A whale has died after it stranded with two others on a beach in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty region.
Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and volunteers stabilised two adult whales and refloated them at Papamoa Beach, near Tauranga, but a third young whale died on the beach.
The other two whales had returned out to sea, DOC said on Friday afternoon.
The whales, believed to be Gray's beaked whales, stranded on the beach earlier on Friday.
Papamoa is one of many beaches in the area that have been closed because of fuel oil leaking from the stricken container ship Rena, which grounded off the Tauranga coast on October 5.
It would not be known if the stranding was connected to the Rena disaster until a post mortem was carried out, DOC said.



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