Farewell Spit is a beach on the South Island in New Zealand. The area has long been known as a spot that whales beach themselves and need help getting back out to sea. Recently though, more whales have been beached than ever before. Officials are saying that the incident is the worst the country has ever seen. More than 400 of these giant creatures have beached themselves and many have not survived. Hundreds of volunteers have raced to the area to help the survivors get back out into the water but it’s a very tough job given the size of them. Officials say that it happened because when one whale gets beached they send out a distress signal for help. Other whales in the area come to help them out and end up getting stuck themselves. The chain reaction is deadly for most of them. While this is the worst incident in recorded history, it’s not the first time this has happened here. Back in February of 2015 nearly 200 whales got stuck in the exact same spot. At least 100 of those were not able to be saved. Officials are hoping that they can get most of these back out in the water over the next day or two.
->**More than 400 whales have been beached on a beach in New Zealand. Watch as volunteers come to try and rescue the ones that are still alive.**<-