Dead whale found in Wellington Harbour

A dead four-metre pilot whale found washed up in a Wellington Bay, New Zealand is believed to be from a pod that stranded at Golden Bay last month.

Conservation Department biodiversity programme manager Rob Stone said he was alerted to the dead whale by a man walking his dog at Sorrento Bay, near Pt Howard. The long-finned pilot whale had been dead for some time and was probably from one of the two pods that stranded in Golden Bay last month. Its carcass would have drifted into Wellington harbour.

"It was in a poor condition and had bad scratches over its body consistent with being stranded and rolling on the rocks," he said. "At this stage we don't know which pod it has come from but it hasn't been shot so we assume it's died of natural causes after being refloated."

Six dead pilot whales were also found washed up along the Wanganui coast during the weekend and another on the West Coast. Last month more than 100 pilot whales were refloated after a mass stranding in Puponga, at the base of Farewell Spit in Golden Bay. A week later 49 pilot whales, believed to be from a separate pod, were shot after stranding at the tip of Farewell Spit.

Those whales were left to decay on the remote coastline – with more than half of the dead being washed back out to sea. The Sorrento Bay carcass, which weighed several tonnes, was removed by crane and taken to Te Papa's marine mammal collection for examination. The whale's head and fin will be kept for scientific research and the body disposed of.

Expert Anton van Helden said it was likely the whale found in Wellington had died recently because it was still in reasonably good condition, compared with the six washed up along the Wanganui coast, which were in an advanced state of decay.