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(CNN) – Marine experts and government officials are racing to save hundreds of pilot whales after a mass stranding in Australia, with dozens of animals already dead.
About 270 pilot whales are stranded in Strahan, a small Tasmanian town, an island off the southern coast of Australia. They are scattered along two sandbars and the beach strip, according to the Tasmanian Marine Conservation Program, which is leading the rescue operation.
“As of late yesterday, about a third of the animals had already passed away,” wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon told a news conference Tuesday morning. He added that it was difficult to make a more specific estimate of deaths, as the whales were scattered over a large area and some places were inaccessible.
“This is a really challenging event,” he said. “In terms of mass strandings in Tasmania, this is one of the most difficult we have had to deal with.”
Other potential problems include the unpredictable tide that is coming in and the possibility of endangered whales attracting sharks to the area.
The rescue teams, numbering about 60 people, include volunteers, police, fish farms and the Tasmanian Wildlife and Parks Service. With the clock ticking, they are forced to make a selection starting with the whales that have the best chance of success, Carlyon said.
First, rescuers will try to “float” the whales “(by moving them) in the water,” Carlyon said, and if that doesn’t work, or if it causes the whales to behave erratically, they will move to another strategy.
The rescue mission will likely take days, raising concerns that the whales may not live that long. But the current climate keeps whales moist and cool, which is “ideal,” Carlyon said: If conditions stay that way, the whales can survive a few more days.
It’s not entirely clear what caused the whales to land on shore, though Carlyon added that there have been some other mass strandings in similar locations. The whales could have been attracted after feeding near the coast; Or, some whales may have gotten too close in “simple misadventure”, and the rest of the pod followed.
After rescuers hope to save the remaining whales, they will have another sinister task ahead of them: moving dozens of whale carcasses from inside the harbor to the sea. Usually when strandings do occur, experts prefer to leave the bodies behind, Carlyon said, but they can’t do so in this case because the area is too close to human camps and activity sites.
Authorities warned the public to stay out of the area and not approach the beach in boats.
Tasmania is the only Australian state where mass strandings of whales and dolphins occur on a regular basis, according to the state’s Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment.
These mass strandings often involve social species living together in large groups, according to the department. Pilot whales, sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins are the most frequently beached species.
Whales have “very close family ties,” so if one whale is stranded, others can hear their calls and follow them, leading to an entire pod being stranded, according to the department.
CNN’s Jack Guy and Sol Han contributed to this report.
This story was first published on CNN.com “Australian officials are racing to save hundreds of stranded pilot whales. One third have already died.”
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