Tazmania mass whale stranding
|
A team of more than 150 people worked for hours recently in an effort to save a pod of about 200 pilot whales and seven bottlenose dolphins which beached themselves on Naracoopa Beach, King Island, northwest of Tasmania. The rescuers tried their best to keep the whales hydrated with wet bedspreads, blankets and towels but 140 animals have already died.
|
Liz Sandeman of Marine Connection reports “The dead whales were part of a pod of nearly 200 pilot whales and several bottlenose dolphins that came ashore. Mass strandings of whales occur periodically in Australia and New Zealand, as the whales migrate to and from Antarctic waters, for reasons that are not entirely understood. Pilot whales are fairly robust animals so hopefully some of these animals will survive. However, the next few days are critical for these whales and dolphins because some more may be refloated and survive for several days but there is the strong possibility they will re-strand”.
The past few months have been busy for rescuers around this area as earlier this year, 48 sperm whales died when they became caught on a sand bar off Perkins Island, near Smithton. Late November last year, 155 long-finned pilot whales also died on Sandy Cape Beach, near Arthur River in the state's wild northwestern coast. A week earlier, 64 whales from the same species stranded at Anthonys Beach at Stanley, near Smithton.
|
