Seven long finned pilot whales have died after being beached in New Zealand, the incident happened Friday past. Rescuers are confident they have saved the other 18 marine mammals that also stranded on Farewell Spit at the northwest corner of South Island.

The surviving whales were floated off the beach at high tide and headed toward deeper waters, boats were used to keep the whales to deeper waters, and people got into the water to encourage the animals to head toward the deep sea, the pod's movements will be tracked because there is still a risk the whales could come back into the shallow waters of the long, sloping headland spit area. Volunteers will check beaches to help locate further strandings before it is too late to save the animals.

Adult male pilot whales measure up to 20 feet (6.1 meters) and weigh up to 3 tons, while adult females measure up to 16 feet (4.9 meters) and weigh up to 1.5 tons.New Zealand has several whale strandings along its coastline each summer, with mass strandings of as many as 450 whales occurring. Since 1840, more than 5,000 strandings of whales and dolphins have been recorded on New Zealand's coast.