470 Pilot Whales Mysteriously Stranded And Stuck On The Beach, At Least 380 Are Dead

Dhir Acharya - Sep 23, 2020

No one knows why, but 270 long-finned pilot whales stranded and were stuck on a remote beach. Scientists and volunteers are trying to rescue them.

No one knows why, but 270 long-finned pilot whales stranded and were stuck on a remote beach of Tasmania, Australia, earlier this week. Though scientists and volunteers race against time to save them, reports say that about a third of the whales have died. Rescuers managed to return 25 pilot whales to the sea.

Nic Deka, Manager of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, said on Tuesday afternoon:

“We’ve rescued about 25 at the present time and escorted them out the channel and out to sea and crews are continuing to work, so that number will increase before we get to the end of the day.”

270 whales stranded on a beach in Australia

In devastating photos take at the scene, you can see many pilot whales trying to get back to the sea on their own, scrambling in the shallow water. To rescue the whales, the scientists and volunteers are placing slings under the animals to drag them to the open sea with boats.

No one knows how so they ended up in the shallow water

However, there are challenges complicating their efforts like freezing water and the weight of the whales, which mostly exceeds 3 tons. Wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon said that the progress could be slow, “We’ll take the animals with the best chance to start with and the ones that we are able to deal with.”

While the number of whales saved is increasing, they are not completely safe as there are chances they will re-strand.

Scientists and volunteers are racing to rescue the whales

They put the whales on slings and drag them back to the open sea

As for the reason for this unfortunate incident, it remains unknown. Marine biologists speculate that the pilot whales might have taken a wrong turn when chasing prey into the shallow water. Or they could be following a dying whale to the beach.

No matter what caused this, once the whales stranded the beach, it’s extremely hard for them to return to the open sea as they get exhausted from trying to dislodge themselves and eventually drown.

[Update] Another 200 pilot whales were found stranded on the beach, meaning there are now 470 stuck mammals in total. Out of this number, 380 have died.