Volunteers flocked to the beach and worked for hours in a desperate bid to save the beached pod.
Nine pilot whales have become stranded at Farewell Spit, at the northern tip of Golden Bay in the South Island.
Among those lending a hand were three students on holiday in nearby Puponga: Kara Tait, a student from Wellington, and Maddie Gallagher and Sam Cleverley, both students from Dunedin. "We had buckets of water that we were pouring on them, and we did just that for about an hour or so," Tait said. The group worked to keep the whales hydrated alongside the DOC staff, who instructed them to return in the morning to help with the next steps.
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