380 whales die in stranding
SYDNEY: At least 380 whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia, officials said yesterday, with rescuers managing to free just a few dozen survivors.
Nearly the entire pod of 460 longfinned pilot whales stuck in Macquarie Harbour, on the rugged and sparsely populated west coast of Tasmania, has now perished.
“We have got a more accurate count and we can confirm that 380 whales are dead,” Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service manager Nic Deka said.
“There’s around 30 left still alive but the good news is that we have saved 50,” he said, describing the rescue effort as emotionally taxing.
The first of the giant mammals were found on Monday, sparking a major effort to free them from a sandbar only accessible by boat.
It is the largest mass stranding ever recorded in Tasmania, an island state off mainland Australia’s south coast, and likely the biggest in the country’s history.
A rescue crew of 60 conservationists, skilled volunteers and local fish farm workers has concentrated efforts on a group of whales partially submerged in the water.
The rescuers have spent two days wading in the cold shallows to free the still living creatures, using boats fitted with special slings to guide them back to the open ocean.
They are now racing to free as many of the 30 remaining live whales as possible.
“They’re focused on the job — it’s demanding work, some of them are up to their chest in cold water so we’re trying to rotate the crews,”Mr Deka said.
“Its very draining physically. It’s also draining emotionally.”
The whales have been found stranded up to 10 kilometres apart, and officials have now expanded their search area to see if more of the mammals are stuck nearby.
Some of the whales rescued on Tuesday re-stranded overnight, in line with predictions by whale behaviour experts, but Mr Deka remained upbeat about the immediate prospects for those that remained in the ocean.
“The good news is the majority of whales that were rescued are still out in deep water and swimming,” he told reporters.“They haven’t stranded. So we’ve been more successful than not.”
The cause of mass strandings is unknown even to scientists who have been studying the phenomenon for decades.