Crowd gathers on New Zealand beach after stranded whale dies

Wellington (AFP) Jan 29, 2024

Scores of people gathered on a New Zealand beach on Monday as a young whale that died in a rare stranding was pulled to shore. The seven-metre (23-foot) fin whale died in the early hours after beaching on an estuary sandbank near the Christchurch suburb of Moncks Bay, the conservation department said. The coast guard used an earthmover to lift the whale's body out of the water. A cro