|
Mass whale stranding in Tasmania
Despite rescuers very best attempts for more than two days, the last of 48 sperm whales stranded in Tasmania died. By the time the pod, which were trapped on a sandbar 150 metres offshore from Perkins Island on the northwest coast of the island state of Tasmania was discovered, most had already perished.
 |
Rescue options were quite impossible because of the massive size of the animals and the fact that the pod was accessible only by water. Some of the males were as big as 18 metres and simply too heavy to lift free off the sandbar. |
Liz Sandeman from the charity comments “ This was one of the most challenging rescues ever attempted in the area as not only were the rescuers dealing with sperm whales weighing in between 20 and 50 tonnes but most of the animals were packed pretty tightly together. Australia's southern island of Tasmania experiences about 80 percent of whale beachings in the country and in this instance it was mostly mothers and calves that stranded. The remote area would also make the rescue difficult”.
Over 150 long-finned pilot whales died in a mass stranding off Tasmania's west coast last November.
|
