Marine experts have given up hope of rescuing greater than 150 false killer whales are stranded on a distant beach on Australia’s island state of Tasmania, officials said on Wednesday.
Experts including veterinarians were on the scene near the Arthur River on Tasmania’s northwestern coast where 157 whales were discovered on an exposed surf beach on Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said.
Unfavorable ocean and weather conditions, which prevented the whales from being rescued on Wednesday, were forecast to persist for days, incident controller Shelley Graham said.
“We’ve got been out in the water this morning and have relocated and attempted to refloat two whales but didn’t have success because the ocean conditions weren’t allowing the animals to get past the break. The animals are repeatedly restranding,” Graham said in a statement.
Marine biologist Kris Carlyon said the survivors could be euthanized.
“The longer these animals are out stranded, the longer they’re suffering. All alternative options have been unsuccessful,” Carlyon said.
The department said there have been 136 survivors on Wednesday morning but that assessment was revised all the way down to 90 inside a few hours.
The inaccessibility of the beach, ocean conditions and challenges to getting specialist equipment to the distant area complicated the response.
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The young whales weighed as little as 500 kilograms (1,100 kilos), while the adults weighed three metric tons (3.3 U.S. tons). Despite their name, false killer whales are certainly one of the most important members of the dolphin family.
On this photo provided by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania, a lady inspects a whale after greater than 150 false killer whales have turn out to be stranded, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, on a distant beach on near Arthur River in Australia’s island state of Tasmania.
NRE via AP
Department liaison officer Brendon Clark said the stranding was the primary by false killer whales in Tasmania in since 1974. That was a pod of greater than 160 whales that landed on a beach near Stanley on the northwest coast. Strandings in Tasmania are often pilot whales.
Clark declined to invest on why the newest pod may need stranded. Carcasses of dead whales could be examined for clues, he said.
A helicopter reconnaissance on Tuesday afternoon determined that there have been no other whales inside 10 kilometers (6 miles) of the stranded pod, he said.
Some might have been stranded for so long as 48 hours by early Wednesday.
Arthur River resident Jocelyn Flint said her son had discovered the stranded whales around midnight while fishing for shark.
She said she had gone to the scene in the dark hours of the morning and returned after dawn however the whales were too big to be refloated.
“The water was surging right up they usually were thrashing. They’re just dying, they’ve sunk down in the sand,” Flint said Wednesday morning. “I believe it’s too late.
“There are little babies. Up one end, there’s a lot of huge ones. It’s sad,” she added.
In 2022, 230 pilot whales were stranded further south on the west coast at Macquarie Harbor.
The most important mass stranding in Australian history occurred in the identical harbor in 2020 when 470 long-finned pilot whales became stuck on sandbars. A lot of the beached whales died on each occasions.
The explanations for the beachings are unclear. Reasons could include disorientation brought on by loud noises, illness, old age, injury, fleeing predators and severe weather.
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