Mass Stranding At Whakatane

This morning dawned on more than 20 dead pilot whales in the Bay of Plenty.
Yesterday, two pods of pilot whales were seen in Ohiwa Harbour near Whakatane. Some of the whales beached themselves on the ocean side of the harbour. A badly injured whale was found up the harbour channel early yesterday afternoon. It's companions were probably concerned for its well-being, causing the mass stranding.

By 7am this morning, about 20 whales were dead, half of those euthanased by Dept.of Conservation (DoC) officers. A helicopter prevented more deaths by shepherding others to safety: the noise turned the whales around, and they went back out the harbour mouth.
Experienced volunteers from around the country have arrived to help save the remaining whales. Ohiwa's next high tide is at around 6pm this evening, 1½ hours before sunset.
Mass pilot whale strandings are more common in the Golden Bay area, the Far North, and the Chatham Islands. Most strandings occur in spring and summer.

UPDATE: 06 Nov.2014 - Rescue mission fails - all whales are lost.

Maori Muslim Radical: Stupid Is As Stupid Does

The spectre of maori radicals has raised its ugly head again, with an influential NZ maori Muslim openly supporting the Islamic State

rabid radical

militancy.
Te Amorangi Kireka-Whaanga heads the Aotearoa Maori Muslim Assn. In 2010, he was named in the world's 500 most influential Muslims by a Jordanian group.
He says NZ fighters should not be stopped from joining IS. His Facebook page - adorned with IS images - has been repeatedly shut down by administrators.
Islamic State has been taking over towns in Syria and Iraq, killing and beheading hostages, as it tries to impose its rabid ultra-radical view of Islam.

Spoiling for a fight

Kireka-Whaanga says Muslims are being killed all over the world, the United Nations "doesn't care" and he understands IS's actions. Ahhhhh, so this is all about defending the Muslim faith, is it? Nothing to do with his own violent tendencies and Mongrel Mob gang connections?? Or that he may have a poor-little-hard-done-by maori-underdog axe to grind against the oppressive colonial white pigdog NZ govt.???
Federation of Islamic Associations (FIANZ) met last week with the govt.over public harassment concerns, while police asked community leaders to keep an eye out for changing behaviour among potential radicals.
Kireka-Whaanga says PM John Key should be worried, because IS was going to "bring down Western civilisation". He says his family wants to move to Syria but he expects his passport would be cancelled.
Key is due to make a speech tomorrow, outlining the govt's plans to combat foreign fighters.
Security Intelligence Service director Rebecca Kitteridge says IS urgings, that "every Muslim should find a crusader and kill him", brings the threat closer to home than NZers think: "There're people we're concerned about here..." She refused to discuss individuals, but these are not empty words. Any civil libertarian wanting to argue the toss need only recall Daryl Jones from Christchurch (aka Muslim bin John), killed by a drone in Yemen in November 2013.
One of the few recognised terrorist experts in this region - Dr Rohan Gunaratna, Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research - said in 2005 that there were up to 10 potential cells here in NZ. That number is sure to have increased in light of current global events.
FIANZ vice-prez Jahved Khan says Kireka-Whaanga is well-known to them but he doesn't believe NZ has anything to fear: "We are concerned about his statements but we're not really concerned that he will do something vicious."
Ironically, on the same day this story broke, the headlines read:
IS Militants kill 322 Iraqis, including women and children, and dump their bodies down a well.
So we have nothing to fear from IS? Riiiiigghhtt!

Norway Whale Meat to Iceland

US-based Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) say Norwegian whaling company Lofothval wants to ship up to 10 tons of whale meat to Iceland!
The export request comes barely a month after the US raised concerns about Norway's escalating whaling and trade in whale products, during the International Whaling Commission meeting.
Norwegian whalers killed 731 minke whales in 2014, the most since the country resumed commercial whaling in 1993, and the hunt yielded a record 871 metric tons of whale meat. However, domestic sales of whale meat are struggling, so the whalers want increased exports, claiming international trade in whale meat is needed to help ensure the survival of the industry.
Susan Millward, AWI executive director: "Norway has systematically increased its cruel slaughter of whales in recent years. The US recently imposed diplomatic measures against Iceland for its whaling

Loftsson: blood money

and trade in whale products, and these same penalties should be imposed on Norway."
And if this whale meat reaches Iceland, we all know where it'll go from there! This latest Lofothval request follows a huge 2,100 ton fin whale meat shipment from Iceland to Japan, executed by Kristján Loftsson, managing director of the Hvalur fin whaling company. Loftsson, who is also chair of the Icelandic seafood giant HB Grandi, is a shareholder in the Lofothval company.
Surprise-surprise...not!