Race to save whales
STRANDED: AT LEAST 90 DIE AS SANDBAR TRAPS 270 IN SHALLOWS
Rescuers raced to save nearly 200 whales stuck in a remote Australian harbour on Tuesday, hoping to minimise the death toll of a mass stranding which had already killed 90.
Officials said at least 25 had been freed so far.
A large pod of long-finned pilot whales is currently stuck on a sandbar in Macquarie Harbour, on Tasmania’s rugged and sparsely populated west coast, scientists said.
Images showed a shallow body of water, thick with scores of the large slick-black creatures manoeuvering for space, and rescuers wading in as they worked to refloat the whales in deeper passages.
About 60 people – including volunteers and local fish farm workers – are involved in the rescue attempt.
Government marine biologist Kris Carlyon said “about a third” of the 270 animals were dead by Monday and that rescuing survivors would be a challenging task likely to take several days.
But there were hopes yesterday that efforts were already paying off, with at least 25 rescued and escorted to open ocean by boats.
“We have now freed a small number successfully that appear to have stayed out at sea,” Parks and Wildlife Service manager Nic Deka said.
Though mass whale strandings occur relatively often in Tasmania, such a large group has not been seen in the area for more than a decade.
The animals are only accessible by boat, limiting the number of rescuers who can reach them.
They are battling chilly and rainy conditions, as well as the harbour’s unusual tides.
“In terms of mass whale strandings, this is up there with the trickiest,” Carlyon said.
However, many of the partially submerged whales should survive for the several days, he said. Rescuers would still have to “triage” the whales, prioritising the healthiest and most accessible. – AFP