230 Pilot Whales Found Stranded In Australia

Locals doused the whales with buckets of water to keep them alive. (Representational)
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Locals doused the whales with buckets of water to keep them alive. (Representational)

Highlights

  • Australian officials reported that barely half of the 230 pilot whales found stranded on Tasmania's wild west coast looked to be alive.
  • Locals kept the survivors alive by covering them with blankets and dousing them in buckets of water.

Australian officials reported that barely half of the 230 pilot whales found stranded on Tasmania's wild west coast looked to be alive.Aerial photographs revealed a heartbreaking scene of dozens of black glossy creatures trapped on the water's edge where the chilly southern ocean meets the sand.

As several whales nearby attempted in vain to wiggle free and more lay dead, locals kept the survivors alive by covering them with blankets and dousing them in buckets of water.

According to the state's Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the whales were "stranded near Macquarie Harbour." It seems like half of the creatures are still alive but half of them seems like dead. Officials reported that staff members equipped with whale rescue equipment and experts in marine conservation were their route to the scene.

To prevent luring sharks to the region, they will likely tow the carcasses out to sea and attempt to refloat any creatures strong enough to survive. It has been nearly two years to the day that the largest mass stranding of pilot whales in Australian history took place in Macquarie Harbour.

Regardless of the efforts of dozens of volunteers who laboured for days in Tasmania's icy waters to liberate the pilot whales, more than 300 died during that stranding. However, mass strandings' origin is still not completely known.

Additionally, scientists had stated that they might be brought on by pods deviating from their course after feeding too close to the shore.

Meanwhile, the news was released shortly after a separate mass stranding on King Island, which is located between Tasmania and the Australian mainland, was believed to have killed twelve young male sperm whales.

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