Whales perish in two mass strandings. - 20 Nov 2011  

Whales perish in two mass strandings.
As of late Wednesday, November 16, despite persistent rescue efforts, a total of 91 whales perished in separate stranding incidents occurring on remote beaches in Australia's Tasmania and the northern tip of South Island in New Zealand. In New Zealand, 65 pilot whales that became beached earlier in the week all died, in part because their inaccessible location made rescue impossible.

Meanwhile in Australia, two whales were successfully guided back to deeper waters, but a third died on Wednesday, with 26 total that perished after they became stranded on a Tasmanian beach the previous Saturday.

Scientists believe that whales may beach in groups due to their strongly social nature, with many that respond to distress signals sent out by one or more ill or disorientedmembers of a pod.

With deep sorrow for the tragic passing of these beautiful wonders of the sea, we send our appreciation to the rescuers for their caring endeavors.

May human hearts be touched to live in such a manner that all Earth’s inhabitants can thrive.
Speaking with concern for the perilous conditions faced by many marine animals who face rising pollutants along with human-created climate change,
Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the stranding of whales and dolphins, and what must be done to protect all lives.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : As the ocean becomes warmer and warmer and more acidic, more toxins are present in the water. The whales and dolphins are thus being driven from the ocean as conditions worsen; it is suffocating them.

Sometimes hundreds at a time, they’re dying on the beach because they cannot tolerate this toxic condition in the seawater anymore. What do we think, why the dolphins and the whales beach on the sand?

They die hundreds at a time because they cannot suffer anymore the water in which they live.
Water means life to them but now the water becomes poison so they have to go out.


http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-11/15/c_131246635.htm, http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1759047 http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/61-whales-die-in-new-zealand-mass-stranding

Extra News
Starting from Africa's Burundi, concerned citizens join the Caravan of Hope, which is traveling 4,000 miles across 10 countries to reach Durban, South Africa on November 26, 2011, where the participants will appeal for a just solution to emerge from the UN climate change summit.


Consistent with the findings of a final report issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on November 18, 2011, forecasting increased extreme weather events, the US National Climatic Data Center states that a record number of disasters have occurred so far in 2011, with
financial damages alone approaching US$50 billion.