WELLINGTON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Conservation officials are warning visitors to stay away from hundreds of whale carcases at a popular New Zealand scenic spot for fear the dead animals might explode.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) said on Monday that the carcases could expand as gases built up within them.
About 300 pilot whales died on Farewell Spit, at the top of the South Island, after an estimated 700 whales stranded over about three days from Thursday.
"The dead whales are in an area of Farewell Spit the public can walk along. The area is currently closed to the public because of the risk from whales exploding. DOC staff will today cut into the whales with a knife to release gas," said a DOC statement.
"When the area reopens to the public, signs will be put in place with information about the dead whales and warning the public not to touch them for health reasons."
Most of the dead whales were on the shore, but some had drifted out to sea and could wash up further along the coast.
DOC staff were working to secure dead whales on the shore on Farewell Spit so they can decompose naturally in the high tide area without drifting out to sea.
They planned to put a fence around a group of about 180 dead whales and to move together other dead whales scattered over about 500 meters and also fence them off.
It could take several months for the dead whales to fully decompose to skeletons.
DOC said no further stranded whales had been found on Monday.
DOC staff and volunteers have worked through the weekend to rescue and refloat the surviving whales.
It was the worst ever mass stranding on the New Zealand mainland since records began in the 1800s.
About 1,000 whales were stranded on the Chatham Islands, a tiny archipelago about 650 km east of the mainland, in 1918 and 450 beached themselves in Auckland in 1985.
