Pilot whales beach in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Six of 19 pilot whales that were stranded Sunday on a beach in the South African city of Cape Town have died and authorities said they planned to euthanize some of the surviving whales.

Police and other rescue workers had hosed down the surviving whales at Noordhoek Beach to try to keep them alive.

The South African Press Association quoted Craig Lambinon, a spokesman for the National Sea Rescue Institute, as saying authorities had considered whether to try and refloat the whales, which washed up on the beach on Sunday morning.

"Seven are in poor health," SAPA quoted Lambinon as saying. "We are still trying our best to save them, but those that can't be saved will be humanely euthanized."

One whale was being transported to a naval base and will be taken out to sea, according to authorities.

"At this stage the first whale is on its way on a trailer to the naval base," Lambinon said. "There are a remaining five whales in good health and we are going to attempt to do the same for them."

He appealed to the public to stay away from the beach because enough workers are there, trying to help the whales.

In 2009, authorities in the Cape Town area removed the carcasses of 55 whales that beached themselves and had to be shot despite the frantic rescue efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

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Photos: Working-class beach for Peru's capital

LIMA , Peru (AP) — While Lima's elite passes its summer weekends in gated beach enclaves south of the Peruvian capital, the working class jams by the thousands on a single municipal beach of grayish-brown sands and gentle waves.

The only barrier to entry to Agua Dulce beach is two dollars, the price of bus fare to and from the beach some 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the city center.

"There are Sundays when it's just packed to the gills," says Carlos Vergara, a portrait photographer who has been working Lima's beaches for 50 years.

Until the mid-20th century, Lima's lower classes couldn't afford beach-going, said Juan Pacheco, a historian of the city. Road-building to the coast solved that, and the rich began to largely abandon Lima's beaches to the poorer set.

On some weekends during the Southern Hemisphere summer, which runs from December until March, as many as 40,000 people a day visit the half-mile-long (kilometer-long) strip of Agua Dulce. Beachgoers arrive in groups of 20-30, hauling enormous pots of fragrant chicken and rice.

Some from Andes mountain communities are getting their first glimpse of the gray-green sea, a color it takes from the Lima sky and the sand of the beach.

"I thought the ocean was blue, but it's gray," said Dolores Silva, 72, smiling as she adjusted a brown cloth hat she'd brought from home, the interior state of Apurimac.

As she speaks, Vergara and other photographers take instant portraits of cooing couples, soldiers on leave, fathers parading first-borns. Other vendors pick their way through the throngs selling candy apples, hot baked bread and plastic inflatable versions of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Children dig holes in the sand and bury each other up to their necks.

As the sunset spreads an orange glow over the Pacific, mothers rinse the sand and salt off their children at the fresh-water fountain fed by a spring that gives the beach its name.

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AP PHOTOS: Working-class beach for Peru's capital

LIMA , Peru (AP) — While Lima's elite passes its summer weekends in gated beach enclaves south of the Peruvian capital, the working class jams by the thousands on a single municipal beach of grayish-brown sands and gentle waves.

The only barrier to entry to Agua Dulce beach is two dollars, the price of bus fare to and from the beach some 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the city center.

"There are Sundays when it's just packed to the gills," says Carlos Vergara, a portrait photographer who has been working Lima's beaches for 50 years.

Until the mid-20th century, Lima's lower classes couldn't afford beach-going, said Juan Pacheco, a historian of the city. Road-building to the coast solved that, and the rich began to largely abandon Lima's beaches to the poorer set.

On some weekends during the Southern Hemisphere summer, which runs from December until March, as many as 40,000 people a day visit the half-mile-long (kilometer-long) strip of Agua Dulce. Beachgoers arrive in groups of 20-30, hauling enormous pots of fragrant chicken and rice.

Some from Andes mountain communities are getting their first glimpse of the gray-green sea, a color it takes from the Lima sky and the sand of the beach.

"I thought the ocean was blue, but it's gray," said Dolores Silva, 72, smiling as she adjusted a brown cloth hat she'd brought from home, the interior state of Apurimac.

As she speaks, Vergara and other photographers take instant portraits of cooing couples, soldiers on leave, fathers parading first-borns. Other vendors pick their way through the throngs selling candy apples, hot baked bread and plastic inflatable versions of SpongeBob SquarePants.

Children dig holes in the sand and bury each other up to their necks.

As the sunset spreads an orange glow over the Pacific, mothers rinse the sand and salt off their children at the fresh-water fountain fed by a spring that gives the beach its name.

View the original article here

Large shark kills man in New Zealand; beach closed

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — A shark has killed a man off a New Zealand beach that was closed after the rare attack there.

Police said the man was found dead in the water Wednesday afternoon after being "bitten by a large shark." Police and surf lifesavers recovered the man's body. The police statement said Muriwai Beach near the city of Auckland has been closed.

Witness Stef McCallum told Fairfax Media that about 200 people were at the beach at the time, during the Southern Hemisphere summer. She said she saw a police officer go out in a surf lifesaving boat and fire multiple shots into the water at the shark.

Fatal shark attacks are relatively rare in New Zealand. Fairfax reports 14 deaths since record-keeping began in the 1830s.

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Large shark kills man in New Zealand; beach closed

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — A shark has killed a man off a New Zealand beach that was closed after the rare attack there.

Police said the man was found dead in the water Wednesday afternoon after being "bitten by a large shark." Police and surf lifesavers recovered the man's body. The police statement said Muriwai Beach near the city of Auckland has been closed.

Witness Stef McCallum told Fairfax Media that about 200 people were at the beach at the time, during the Southern Hemisphere summer. She said she saw a police officer go out in a surf lifesaving boat and fire multiple shots into the water at the shark.

Fatal shark attacks are relatively rare in New Zealand. Fairfax reports 14 deaths since record-keeping began in the 1830s.

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Royal penguin stranded on New Zealand beach dies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A royal penguin that became stranded on a beach more than 1,000 miles from its sub-Antarctic home has died at a New Zealand zoo.

The penguin was emaciated and suffering kidney failure when it arrived at the Wellington Zoo after being found Sunday by hikers.

The zoo did the best it could, Lisa Argilla, the facility's veterinary science manager, said Friday. They suspect the penguin suffered multiple organ failure. It was severely underweight, she said, and had no reserves.

The penguin was about a year old, 50 centimeters (20 inches) long and weighed about 2.7 kilograms (6 pounds) when it arrived, Argilla said. Royal penguins can grow to about 75 centimeters (30 inches) and 5.5 kilograms (12 pounds).

They have a yellow crest, eat krill and squid and generally live around Macquarie Island, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. They are considered a threatened species but not endangered. They shed all their feathers during an annual molt, which the New Zealand penguin had been doing when found. Its sex had not been determined.

It was just the fourth time over the past 100 years that a royal penguin has been found on the North Island of New Zealand.

Jenny Boyne, who lives near Tora Beach where the penguin was found, said she drove it to the zoo in a fish crate after staff suggested she bring it in.

"It sat down like a little quiet lamb," she said.

The bird stood up briefly a couple of times and honked but generally lay still for the two-hour journey, she said. She blasted the air conditioning and spritzed the bird with water after zoo staff instructed her to keep it cool.

It had revived memories of another penguin, an emperor nicknamed Happy Feet, that arrived in 2011 and whose recovery at the zoo captured the hearts of many before he was released.

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