New Zealanders help to save about 30 whales after a pod strands on a beach

Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — More than 30 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a beach in New Zealand have been safely returned to the ocean after conservation workers and residents helped to refloat them by lifting them on sheets. New Zealand’s conservation agency said four whales died. New Zealand is a whale stranding hotspot and pilot whales are especially prolific stranders. The agency praised as “incredible” the efforts made by hundreds of people to help save the foundering pod. A Māori cultural ceremony for the three adult whales and one calf that died in the stranding took place Monday.