More than 50 pilot whales have died after becoming stranded on a beach in Western Australia, with authorities pledging to save dozens more on Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, a pod of around 100 long-finned pilot whales was observed off Cheynes Beach near Albany, roughly 400 kilometres (250 miles) southeast of Perth.
Volunteers labored through the night, risking frigid conditions, to monitor the whales with experts from the state’s Parks and Wildlife Service.
On Wednesday morning, the service verified that 51 of the animals had died.
The organization stated that it is currently collaborating with volunteers to try to save the remaining 46 whales, with plans to assist them to deeper water throughout the day.
Footage from the scene showed volunteers, many of whom were wearing wetsuits, frantically rushing to assist the thrashing beasts on the beach’s borders.
A Parks and Wildlife Service representative claimed the agency had been overwhelmed with hundreds of offers of help, but that it had enough volunteers and that the public should stay away from the beach for safety reasons.
The Incident Management Team’s top priority is to ensure the safety and well-being of staff and volunteers.
“The Incident Management Team’s priority focus is to ensure the safety of staff and volunteers, as well as the welfare of the whales”, they stated.
“There are a variety of hazards in the response zone, including large, distressed, and potentially sick whales, sharks, waves, heavy machinery, and vessels”, they continued.
Pilot whale strandings in large numbers are not unusual in Australia and New Zealand.
Around 500 pilot whales died in October after they were beached on New Zealand’s remote Chatham Islands.
Scientists do not fully understand why mass strandings occur, but because pilot whales are highly friendly and can grow to be more than six metres (20 feet) long, they may follow pod-mates who stray into danger.
According to Bec Wellard, a marine mammal scientist with Project Orca, the causes of whale strandings are still unknown.
“We still don’t know why — if we did, we might be able to do more to prevent it”, she told to the media.
“However, with pilot whales, they frequently strand en masse – an individual may become ill or in distress, and the rest of the pod follows them, which can cause them to strand”, she continued.
She stated that it was critical to try to refloat the pilot whales together due to their strong family bonds.
“However, if the surviving whales’ health is jeopardized, an assessment of whether efforts to refloat them could just be prolonging their suffering is required”, she added.
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