An orca calf stranded north of Wellington last year has become the case study of Massey University research showing protocols need to be improved to ensure the animal welfare of stranded marine mammals is the priority.
From the outset, experts advised the orca named Toa be euthanised as the calf was dependent on its mother, but instead it was cared for by the Plimmerton community, volunteer groups and the Department of Conservation for 12 days before it died while decisions surroundings its future were still being held.
Over this time, the Government agency said their goal remained to care for the calf and to find its pod.
Professor Karen Stockin from the Cetacean Ecology Research Group at Massey University, one of the authors of the research published in Marine Policy, said that outcome was always unlikely.
"We do have a number of different parties and stakeholders involved during these events on New Zealand beaches but that is why we are calling for obviously to keep up front and centre the welfare needs of the animals themselves," Professor Stockin told 1News.
Massey University investigated standard operating procedures for the Department of Conservation and Australian state organisations.
They found information on when to euthanise animals was ambiguous and inconsistent between departments and some details on how to appropriately kill animals to ensure no further welfare issues were missing.
"The NZ SOP was the only one recommending the use of soft-nose projectiles. Soft-nose projectiles begin to deform as they hit tissue... This could lead to lower penetration depth and reduced killing efficiency," the research states.
Academics are calling for protocols to include evidence-based information and consistent, objective and detailed criteria to ensure animal welfare is put first.
"Ideally such criteria should be publicly socialised prior to stranding incidents so that when high profile species strand, the public are aware that individual animal welfare concerns should be the focus of management options," the research states.
The study also recommends improved data collection at stranding events to evaluate animal welfare outcomes and create evidence-based recommendations, and improved euthanasia training for authorities that respond.
The study found New Zealand was the only organisation compared that included criteria to consider the public's response to a decision.
Euthanasia was not recommended where "significant antagonism" from the public and local iwi towards DOC could occur.
As a case study, the research points out that despite meeting the maternal dependency criteria for euthanasia, Toa was likely not euthanised for this reason.
"Where there is more public investment in these kind of events, that puts increasing pressure on the Department of Conservation to balance the human dynamic and that can, as we saw in Toa, come at an animal welfare cost," Stockin said.
Chemical euthanasia was proposed for the calf, because of the perceived public perception of shooting the animal, despite the fact no one in New Zealand has been trained to administer this procedure and there are concerns about the impact on the environment from chemical use.
Mike Ogle, DOC marine technical adviser, said the agency is working on improving its decision making communications to the public.
"The world is a different place than it was 10 years ago, there wasn't so much social media going off in those days as there is in 2022 so we need to look at how are we going to manage social aspects," Ogle said.
"Getting the public to understand what we need to do at a marine mammal stranding."
Ogle said DOC stands by the decisions made in the handling of Toa the orca.
"We'd never regret not euthanising something to a certain extent but in that situation it just didn't come about... it didn't have propeller damage or huge damage... it would have been psychological damage and in the end its condition went downhill really quick just when you started thinking, 'Oh, maybe we really do need to do euthanasia now.'
"It passed so quickly, it just died naturally so no there's no real regrets there but certainly we might do things differently in the future."
He said what could be done differently is difficult to say as circumstances "are always so different."
"Every time you go to a stranding there's always something different thrown at you.
"It's going to always be a play it by air situation. You're dealing with wild animals out in the wild and it just gets complex quick."
Ogle said he's currently rewriting the euthanasia part of the standard operating procedures and changes will be made in the next two months, and then reviewed further over the next few years in line with developments in a research project from Massey University's Cetacean Ecology Research Group.
Volunteer group Project Jonah responds to two marine mammal strandings a week on average, whether through attending the scene or providing guidance.
General manager Daren Grover says social media is a double-edged sword, with communication of sightings, for example, and volunteers and resources being found positives, but people drawing the wrong conclusions is possible with the full picture and all information not shared.
"Members of the public need to understand that euthanasia is a possible outcome at every single stranding event - whales and dolphins when they strand, there is an underlying reason for that event to occur," Grover said.
"I am worried that people do expect all animals to live in any given circumstance and there is perhaps a certain expectation that regardless of what underlying conditions may have led a whale or dolphin to strand, there is a potential expectation that all animals will be saved."
Grover said while he wants a "happy ending" for every animal, he doesn't want to see an animal's suffering prolonged.
He said methods currently being used in New Zealand are the "best on the basis of the information we have."
Project Jonah supports improved data collection at the scene, he said.
"We are all for recording as much data as possible because science whether it's western science or mātauranga Māori science is based on information and knowledge and so with more information, more knowledge we can make better welfare decisions for stranded whales," Grover said.
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