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Stranded whales in Macquarie Bay: around 230 animals washed up on Wednesday
Photo: Huon Aquaculture/Getty Images
It's a sad picture: Hundreds of whales have stranded near shallow Macquarie Bay in Tasmania - exactly two years after the largest known mass stranding of pilot whales in Australia to date.
A total of about 230 animals were spotted in western Tasmania on Wednesday, the Tasmanian Natural Resources Authority said.
About half of them were initially still alive.
It's apparently pilot whales again, said Karen Stockin, an expert on whale and dolphin strandings at New Zealand's Massey University.
"Pilot whales are known to be mass beachers," said Stockin of the dpa.
This is mainly due to the fact that the peaceful giants form close bonds with each other.
If a single animal is sick, injured or weak and therefore stranded, hundreds could follow, explained the expert.
"They don't do it because they're stupid, but because of their emotional connection to the other animals," Australian media quoted Griffith University marine biologist Olaf Meynecke as saying.
470 whales stranded in 2020
Almost two years ago to the day, hundreds of whales were stranded in the same region.
At that time, 470 pilot whales got lost in the remote bay.
Despite an extensive rescue operation, only 111 animals survived.
More than a dozen dead sperm whales were discovered on an island north of Tasmania on Monday.
The 14 bodies lay on the coast of King Island between Tasmania and mainland Australia.
Here, too, marine biologists and veterinarians are on duty to investigate the circumstances of death.
However, Stockin sees no direct connection between the phenomena: "These were sperm whales, which tend to be loners." Nevertheless, it is interesting that the two strandings happened so quickly one after the other.
Exactly why the animals stranded is unclear.
Stockin cites possible mis-navigation by the group's leader as a possible cause -- or a change in water temperatures triggered by the La Niña and El Niño climate phenomena.
This can cause changes in the currents, which in turn lead to a change in prey behavior - and thus bring the whales to shallower waters.
Marine biologists, meanwhile, were at Ocean Beach on secluded Macquarie Bay to devise a plan to rescue the surviving sea giants.
Helpers spoke of "surreal scenes".
They tried to protect the animals with special blankets.
The Australian Guardian quoted a man who had already helped with the 2020 whale operation as saying that the largest specimens weighed two to three tons.
Authorities urged citizens to stay away from the site.
Those who are not officially invited to help with the rescue attempts should not come.
ani/dpa