New Zealand whales: Authorities to move 300 carcasses

New Zealand authorities have said they will move the carcasses of hundreds of whales that died in a mass stranding to an area not open to the public.

About 300 whales will be moved with a digger and buried in the sand dunes further up Farewell Spit, South Island.

On Monday, conservation workers pierced the bodies to release gas built up during decomposition, following warnings the carcasses might explode.

Thursday's stranding was one of the country's worst.

It is not clear why more than 400 pilot whales - which are technically members of the dolphin family - came ashore last week, but since then more have stranded themselves including about 200 on Saturday.

The 200 were mostly refloated, but Department of Conservation (DOC) official Trish Grant told the BBC on Monday that the pod was still dangerously close to the beach and the whales could strand themselves again.

"We have staff in a boat offshore because there is a risk they could re-strand," she said.

How will the dead whales be moved?

Diggers will be used to move the hundreds of heavy carcasses to an area of sand dunes in a part of the local nature reserve that is not normally open to the general public.

The DOC originally considered leaving the carcasses where they were, with fences around them, but decided it would be better to keep the rotting bodies away from the public.

"It's a big job" admitted the DOC's Trish Grant, adding that it would take a few days as the bodies can only be moved at low tide.

Workers in protective clothing have spent Monday morning cutting holes in whale carcasses with knives and long needles to prevent them from exploding because of gas build-up.