Military help out in New Zealand stranded orca rescue

Military personnel helped successfully rescue a stranded juvenile orca from a beach in Marlborough on the South Island on Sunday. They were in the area taking part in training exercises involving representatives from New Zealand, Canada, the USA and Australia. 

Volunteers from Project Jonah, New Zealand’s strandings NGO and the country’s Department of Conservation coordinated the rescue, which involved the whale spending the night on the beach while a trench was dug to enable it to be refloated at high tide and be taken back out to deeper water.

It is thought the orca may have stranded after chasing a stingray into shallow water.