Pilot whale

About 500 pilot whales became beached on a sandbar in what is the largest mass stranding in Australia's history.

Beachgoers battled to help a pod of pilot whales refloat back into the sea, after coming too close to the shore in the US state of Georgia. Rescuers were able to push six back into deeper waters, but three died.

At least 50 pilot whales died after becoming stranded on a beach in the Chatham Islands, about 800 kilometres east of New Zealand. This is the third stranding of pilot whales in the region in one week.

An estimated 145 pilot whales became stranded on the remote Stewart Island off the south coast of New Zealand. By the time conservation groups reached them half had died and the other half had to be put down due to their poor health and remote location. In a second separate incident, 10 pygmy whales were stranded on the other side of New Zealand. Two have died, but with more help available conservationists are hoping to “refloat” the surviving eight. The process involves returning them to the sea slowly.