Second needle incident in strawberries in New Zealand
Wellington: A needle has been found in a strawberry in New Zealand, police said on Monday, the second incident to hit the country two months after a contamination crisis erupted in Australia. The needle was found in a punnet sold in the small South Island town of Geraldine over the weekend, a New Zealand police spokesman said. The supermarket owner Garry Sheed said he had since taken all strawberries off the shelves but would not comment on whether the punnet was from Australia or New Zealand. This is the second such incident in New Zealand since the scare was sparked in September, when more than 200 reported incidents of needles hidden in strawberries were reported in Australia. Some of those cases were found to be hoaxes or false complaints. A 50-year-old woman who worked at one of the strawberry farms where the tampered produce was grown has since been arrested in Queensland and charged with contaminating goods. The New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said the person who found the needle in Geraldine was not harmed. “The matter has been referred to the police who are leading the criminal investigation,” a ministry spokesman told reporters. “At this stage, MPI does not have any reason to believe this is more widespread than the single discovery. However, as a precautionary measure the store has removed strawberries from shelves.” (AFP)
145 stranded pilot whales die on New Zealand beach
Wellington: All of the 145 pilot whales that stranded themselves on a remote New Zealand beach have died. However, conservation workers are hoping to save some of the eight pygmy killer whales that remained stranded Monday at the other end of the country in an unrelated event. A hiker discovered the pilot whales in two pods about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) apart late on Saturday on Stewart Island. About 75 were already dead and conservation workers decided to euthanise the others due to their poor condition and remote location. Only about 375 people live on Stewart Island, which is also called Rakiura. The whales were found at Mason’s Bay about 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the main township of Oban. “You feel for the animals, it’s just a really sad event,” said Ren Leppens, the Rakiura operations manager for the Department of Conservation. “It’s the kind of thing you don’t want to see. You wish you could understand the reasoning why the whales strand better, so you could intervene.” Leppens said the whales were half buried in sand and not in good health, indicating they had been there for perhaps a day before they were found. He said staff shot the whales and the carcasses would be left where they were for nature to take its course. Meanwhile, on Sunday, 10 pygmy killer whales were found stranded at Ninety Mile Beach on the North Island. Two have since died, and staff plan to try and refloat the remaining eight. Whale strandings are relatively common in New Zealand during the Southern Hemisphere spring and summer. It is believed that strandings can be caused by a number of factors, such as the whales trying to escape predators, falling ill, or navigating incorrectly. (AP)