Marine specialists have lost hope of saving more than 150 false killer whales that became stranded on a remote beach in Tasmania, Australia, officials confirmed on Wednesday, reports AP.
Veterinarians and experts were present near Arthur River on Tasmania’s northwestern coast, where 157 whales were found on an exposed surf beach on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
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Unfavourable ocean and weather conditions prevented rescue efforts on Wednesday and were expected to persist for days, incident controller Shelley Graham stated.
"We went out into the water this morning, relocated two whales, and attempted to refloat them, but the rough ocean conditions prevented them from making it past the break. The animals keep restranding,” Graham explained in a statement.
Marine biologist Kris Carlyon confirmed that the surviving whales would be euthanised.
"The longer these animals remain stranded, the more they suffer. All alternative measures have been unsuccessful," Carlyon said.
The department initially reported 136 survivors on Wednesday morning, but the number was later revised to 90 within a few hours.
Difficulties in accessing the beach, adverse ocean conditions, and logistical challenges in transporting specialist equipment to the remote site complicated the rescue response.
The stranded young whales weighed approximately 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), while the adults reached 3 metric tons (3.3 U.S. tons).
Department liaison officer Brendon Clark noted that this was Tasmania’s first false killer whale stranding since 1974, when a pod of over 160 whales was beached near Stanley on the northwest coast. Typically, strandings in Tasmania involve pilot whales.
Clark declined to speculate on the cause of the latest incident but mentioned that examinations of the carcasses might provide insights.
Aerial reconnaissance on Tuesday afternoon confirmed that no other whales were within 10 kilometres (6 miles) of the stranded pod, he said.
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Some whales may have been stranded for up to 48 hours by early Wednesday.
Arthur River resident Jocelyn Flint recounted that her son first spotted the stranded whales around midnight while shark fishing.
She visited the scene in the early hours and returned after dawn but found the whales too large to refloat.
“The water was surging up, and they were thrashing. They’re just dying, sinking into the sand,” Flint said on Wednesday morning. “I think it’s too late.”
“There are little babies. At one end, there are many big ones. It’s heartbreaking,” she added.
In 2022, 230 pilot whales stranded further south on the west coast at Macquarie Harbour.
Australia’s largest recorded mass stranding occurred in the same harbour in 2020, when 470 long-finned pilot whales became trapped on sandbars. Most of the stranded whales perished in both instances.
The exact reasons for these strandings remain uncertain. Possible causes include disorientation due to loud noises, illness, ageing, injury, predator evasion, or extreme weather conditions.