Hamelin Bay: Nearly 150 beached whales die in Australia
- Published
Over 100 whales die in mass stranding in Australia
Only six whales have survived a mass stranding of pilot whales on the coast of Western Australia.
About 150 of the animals were found beached at Hamelin Bay, about 300km (180 miles) south of Perth.
Their discovery by a local fisherman on Friday prompted a major rescue effort to return them to deeper waters.
However, by nightfall, more than 140 of the whales had died, with deteriorating weather conditions and the threat of frenzied sharks impeding efforts.
More than 100 volunteers, wildlife personnel and others came to the aid of the beached pilot whales, a species known to strand en masse.
Allow Instagram content?
This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
"I've never seen anything like it, seen so many whales beached like this," one tourist told the Associated Press news agency.
"Unfortunately, most of the whales beached themselves on dry land overnight [on Thursday] and have not survived," Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson Jeremy Chick said in a statement.
The rocky beach terrain, dead whales surrounding the survivors and rough seas were challenging factors in moving the surviving whales, officials said.
Mr Chick said there was a risk the surviving whales might come back into shore and re-strand.
"This has often been the case in previous mass strandings," he added.
'A mystery of nature'
Scientists do not know exactly what causes whales to beach themselves.
Most of the 150 animals stranded were dead by the end of the day
Experts have said stranding can occur when whales are sick or injured, or make navigational errors, particularly along gentle sloping beaches.
"It's one of the mysteries of nature," one of the rescue coordinators told the Sydney Morning Herald, external, adding that "once they come ashore like that they do deteriorate quite quickly."
Sometimes beached animals can send out distress signals that attract other whales to become stranded.
In 1996, about 320 whales became beached in Western Australia's largest stranding.
Scientists have been carrying out experiments to measure the effects of human-made noise
- Published23 March 2018
- Published13 February 2017
