A Gray’s Beaked Whale recently died on Te Awanga Beach near Hastings. So what? Whales beach themselves all the time. The difference here was that concerned local residents “could not get near him, because he struggled and thrashed around too much”.

Department of Conservation ranger Hans Rook said that the whale was a very old bull, was bleeding profusely and had possibly swum in to die on shore. “These animals are warm-blooded and have a fear of drowning, so some prefer to die breathing air.”

Through this piece of commonsense, onlookers got the natural history lesson: whales often beach themselves to die.

There are at least six whale herd and 44 single whale strandings a year on the New Zealand coastline. Every time it happens, hordes of the leather-sandal brigade rush to the beaches, pouring buckets of saltwater over the marooned whales to keep them wet (probably effectively drowning them in the process) and wait for the next high tide to turn them around and send them back out to sea.

Distress signals from dying whales send mixed messages to the rest of the pod, who may decide to join them in a Waco-type mass suicide. Perhaps the beached whales should be killed quickly to prevent others coming in to join them? Refloated whales usually turn around and are back on shore with the next tide.

If whales decide to top themselves either by mass suicide or individually, who are these do-gooders to prevent nature from taking its course? The whales could be old, sick, or starved of their natural food supply. Their deaths may allow others to live because of a dwindling food supply. So their act of heroism should not be denied - we shouldn’t interfere.