新西兰145头领航鲸集体搁浅死亡

More than 140 pilot whales（领航鲸） deadafter mass stranding（搁浅） in NewZealand

(CNN) As many as 145 whales have diedafter being found stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand, conservationofficials said Monday.

Two pods（身体） of pilot whales were discovered just over a mile apart on Mason Bay,Stewart Island（斯图尔特岛）, a sparsely populated（人口稀少的） island in the country'ssouth.

Authorities（官方） werefirst alerted（警告） to the massstranding by a hiker Saturday evening. Half of the whales were already dead.The remaining animals were later euthanized（实施安乐死）, according to New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC)（新西兰保护局）.

A Stewart Island operations manager forthe DOC, Ren Leppens, said that the remote location and condition of thesurviving whales made it impossible to save them. He described the decision as"heart-breaking."

"Sadly, the likelihood（可能性） of being able to successfullyre-float（浮起） the remaining whales was extremely low," Leppens saidin a statement. "The remote location, lack of nearby personnel（人员） and the whales' deteriorating（恶化） condition meant themost humane（仁慈的） thing to do was toeuthanize.

The DOC also announced that it wasworking with a local Maori（毛利人）tribe（部落）on the "next steps." In New Zealand, Maori groupsare often involved in dismantling（分解） andburying the remains of beached whales in accordancewith（与……一致） indigenous（土著的，本土的）traditions.

The incident is one of a series of recentwhale strandings in New Zealand. On Sunday, 10 pygmykiller whales（侏儒虎鲸） were found stranded on Ninety Mile Beach, in the country'sNorth Island. Two have since died, with efforts still underway to"re-float" the remaining creatures.

The exact（准确的）reasons why whales and dolphins become stranded are not fully understood. Contributing factors（成因） can include"sickness, navigational error（航运过失）, geographical features（地理特征）, a rapidly falling tide（退潮）, being chased by a predator（捕食者）, or extreme weather（极端天气）," the DOC'sstatement said.