Rescuers’ race to save whales beached on Australian coast

AUSTRALIAN rescuers were racing against time to save 15 short-finned pilot whales yesterday after more than 150 of the migrating mammals beached on the country’s west coast.

Jeremy Chick, incident controller at Western Australia’s conservation department, said most of the whales had died after becoming stranded on dry land at Hamelin Bay, 198 miles south of the state’s capital, Perth overnight. Authorities and trained volunteers were trying to save 15 in shallow waters.

While whales regularly get stranded on the coastal strip migrating between Antarctic feeding grounds in the south and warmer northern waters where they raise their young, the large number this time of year is unusual.

Melissa Lay, manager at the Hamelin Bay Holiday Park, told Reuters that it was the second mass stranding she had witnessed during her 15 years in the area. “There are some that are still alive but barely,” she said. “The last time it happened, none survived.”

Locals and tourists were being warned to stay out of the water due to a likely increase in sharks attracted by the dead whales.

People there for the peak salmon fishing season were also advised to stay out of the shallows.

“It is possible the dead and dying animals will act as an attractant, which could lead to sharks coming close into shore along this stretch of coast,” the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said in a statement.

The largest mass stranding of whales in the state occurred in 1996 when 320 long-finned pilot whales stranded themselves just north of Hamelin Bay.

Short-finned pilot whales are darkcoloured with pinkish-grey undersides, the animals travel in large numbers and often get stranded en masse, the department said.