Australians have reported a mass stranding of whales off the coast of Tasmania at Macquarie Heads. Around 90 out of nearly 270 whales have already died.
Conservationist groups have been able to save 25 whales by escorting them back into the waters. However, they fear that more may die before being rescued.
The first stranded whales were found in shallow waters near Tasmania's west coast earlier this week. Until now, experts do now know how the whales reached the shallow coast. Local marine biologists have anticipated that the large rescue operation may take days.
Mass Beaching
The last time Tasmania recorded a mass stranding was in 2009 involving about 200 whales. Individual whale stranding is also commonly reported at Macquarie Heads.
The whales were found in three main locations around the coast, reported the Tasmanian Marine Conservation Program. About 200 whales were found on a sandbar with 30 a few hundred feet away and the rest further inland on Ocean Beach.
The team is also worried that most of the whales are in inaccessible locations, while a few near the deep waters have already been rescued. Pirotta said, "Unfortunately some animals will continue to die probably just because they have been on the water, or stranded on the sandbar for quite a long time."
Rescuers have resorted to using equipment to push the whales off the sandbar in closer to the water. Dr. Kris Carlyon, a wildlife biologist, shared that one of the challenges with rescuing the whales is that they are "semi-buoyant so it probably won't take too much to re-float them - just involves a bit of grunt."
Another challenge to the rescue operations is strong tides, which also threaten the safety of the 40 or so trained rescuers. Escorting the whales into deeper waters will be easier once they hit shallow waters.
High tide would also help, added Dr. Pirotta. With the whales, nearly "the size of your car, essentially [16 feet] in length, a couple of tons worth of weight," a high tide would benefit both the whales and the rescuers.
Misadventure of Pilot Whales
Some of the whales, explained Dr. Carlyon, can grow up to three tons and 23 feet long. The team has decided to start with the whales that were easiest to rescue.
Wildlife scientist Dr. Vanessa Pirotta shared that perhaps one or several pilot whales may have had a navigational error. Whales communicate via echolocation, but factors such as noise pollution may interfere with their communications.
From previous rescue operations, they've observed that pilot whales can survive up to four days stranded on the shore. So far, most of the whales are in wet and cool conditions as the team is hopeful that they can rescue as many of the whales as possible. Dr. Carlyon agreed with Dr. Pirotta by saying that the misadventure of one or two pilot whales could have led the whole pod astray since they "are such a social species, that may have drawn the other animals in."
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