'Horror' pilot whale stranding: 'We could do nothing to save them'

A rāhui has been placed over the Stewart Island bay where 145 pilot whales died.

The mass pilot whale stranding at Mason Bay in Rakiura/Stewart Island . Photo: Supplied / DOC

Two pods stranded at Mason Bay were discovered by a tramper camping in the area on Saturday.

More than half the whales were dead when Department Of Conservation (DOC) staff arrived and the rest were euthanised because of their poor condition.

DOC said it would let nature take its course with the corpses; meanwhile signs were up warning people not to swim in the bay or touch the whales.

Travel blogger Liz Carlson was heading back to her camp while on a five-day trip on Stewart Island when she came across the "horror" scene.

"We dropped everything and ran straight into the water," she posted online.

"Desperately we grabbed their tails and pushed and yelled, before we got hammered by them thrashing around. It was useless - they were so big and heavy and the realization we could do nothing to save them was the worst feeling I've ever experienced."

One the fellow travellers sprinted 15km back to a base where DOC rangers were to raise the alarm, she said.

She said she was left heartbroken after eventually realising they would die.

"I'll never forget their cries, the way they watched me as I sat with them in the water, how they desperately tried to swim but their weight only dug them deeper into the sands.

"I sank to my knees in the sand screaming in frustration and crying, with the sound of dozens of dying whales behind me, utterly alone.

"I'll never be the same after this."

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Saturday night was the worst night of my entire life. 50kms into a 5 day tramp on the remote west coast of Stewart Island, we were wandering back to our camp at at sunset and came across hundreds of pilot whales becoming beached in the low surf. When we realized the horror of what we were seeing, we dropped everything and ran straight into the water. Desperately we grabbed their tails and pushed and yelled, before we got hammered by them thrashing around. It was useless - they were so big and heavy and the realization we could do nothing to save them was the worst feeling I’ve ever experienced. We were in a place with no people, no service, no help. @ju_riviera was a champion and took off running at 8:30pm in his wet sandy clothes and boots almost 15 kilometers back to a base hut up the bay where we knew there were DOC rangers working who would have a radio. He made it in 1.5 hours to raise the alarm, and I stayed with the whales til dark, sitting with them, dragging the smallest baby back in the water every few minutes before it would rebeach itself, and throwing water over the drier whales until my hands were numb from the water and wind. I’ll never forget their cries, the way they watched me as I sat with them in the water, how they desperately tried to swim but their weight only dug them deeper into the sands. My heart completely broke. When the realization there was no hope, it was almost dark, high tide was in the middle of the night and knowing this was one of the most remote places in New Zealand, I knew they would inevitable die. I sank to my knees in the sand screaming in frustration and crying, with the sound of dozens of dying whales behind me, utterly alone. It would take close to 1000 people to save them, more than double the whole population of Rakiura. The only positive bit was thanks to us alerting everyone, they were able to euthanize them shortly afterwards, and my heart hurts for the man who had that horrific job, and would have done anything to save them too. Otherwise it would have likely been days before anyone even knew the whales were there and a very long painful slow death for them all. I’ll never be the same after this.

A post shared by Liz Carlson☀️Young Adventuress (@youngadventuress) on Nov 26, 2018 at 11:03am PST