Mass death of eagle rays caused by stormy weather

By Patrick Manning, Massey University journalism student

Exotic pests and diseases have been ruled out as the cause of death for a number of eagle rays found dead on Porirua shores.

Twenty dead eagle rays and dead two rig sharks were spotted by Wellington Coast Clean-Up crew members along with other volunteers.

The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) told RNZ late last month it suspected the deaths were connected to recent storms.

It told RNZ this week that remained the most likely explanation.

Specialist staff visited the site to collect samples and had them tested in an animal health laboratory.

MPI said the samples collected showed no signs of disease.

The stomachs were empty, but also in good body condition.

One of the volunteers for Wellington Coast Clean-Up Crew Lorraine Shaab said she had never seen anything like this on Wellington's shores since forming the group in 2017.

"We've never encountered anything like this before. We've never seen dead fish or dead eagle rays like we did two weeks ago."

She said four more dead eagle rays were found in Aotea lagoon nearby.

A spokesperson for MPI said given that it was a tidal lagoon, it considered the mortalities to be a result of the same event.

The Department of Conservation confirmed it had been alerted to the mass death, but as the affected animals were not protected species, it would not be involved.