Again, Default to the Kill: Beached Whales Shot in New Zealand

This seems to be a reoccurring issue - again, a problem comes up, and the human species, with it's amazing abilities, defaults to simply killing away the problem.

Beached whales shot in NZ

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4573824.stm


Stranded whales shot dead in NZ
Dozens of stranded pilot whales have been shot dead in New Zealand to
end
their suffering when it was ruled too difficult to get them back in the
sea.
The department of conservation said any attempt to refloat the whales
would be too dangerous for the humans involved and would probably not
have
worked.

The whales were stranded on a beach near Farewell Spit, on the
north-western tip of the South Island.

More than 100 whales were freed from the same area about two weeks ago.

These latest stranded whales are not thought to have been from the same
pod.


The latest whales were stranded further out on the spit than the
previous
group, meaning that any rescue attempt could have resulted in people
being
swept out to sea.
Eight of the whales died within hours of being stranded, the New
Zealand
Herald reported. Another 41 whales were shot to end their suffering.

"Given the hopelessness of being able to successfully refloat the
whales,
our prime concern was then to avoid the whales having a long and
painful
death," said a conservation department spokesman, Greg Napp, quoted by
the
paper.

Scientists are not sure what causes whales to beach themselves.



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4573824.stm