WELLINGTON - A pod of 34 pilots whales stranded for the last two days at the top of New Zealand's South Island are all dead, conservation officials announced Wednesday.

Sixteen of the whales had died since Tuesday morning and Department of Conservation (DOC) staff euthanized the remaining 18 to end their suffering, said DOC Golden Bay Area Manager John Mason.

The deaths bring the total number of whales killed in the mass stranding to 65.

"We had wanted to give the whales a chance to refloat and hopefully find their way out to sea in the high tides yesterday and overnight. But they re-stranded each time and more whales died, " said Mason in a statement.

"The whales seem to have come in a little further inshore in each re-stranding. The tides are reducing so it became very unlikely the remaining whales would get out to sea and that they would survive."

"Rather than prolong the whales' suffering we decided to take the humane course of euthanizing the remaining 18 whales this morning."

A tour guide reported the stranded pilot whales to the DOC on Monday evening by a tour guide.

DOC rangers went to the area Monday and found 20 dead whales and one whale in a poor condition, which was euthanized, said the statement.

The next morning the rangers found another 34 live and 10 dead whales stranded nearby, 2 to 3 kilometers from shore.

A rescue of the whales was judged too dangerous given their distance from the shore in a remote location where tides came in rapidly over the shallow tidal flats, said the statement.

Rescuers would had to have refloated the whales in chest-deep water before walking the 2 to 3 kilometers back to shore, said the statement.