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It has become one of the major whale kills off the coast of Tasmania. As rescuers tried Tuesday to maneuver about 200 stranded pilot whales back to deeper waters, another group of about 200 animals was discovered Wednesday night. Helpers report that. Most of them already appeared to be dead, said Nic Deka of the local authority responsible. The number of stranded animals rose to a total of around 450, according to a spokeswoman for the rescue team.
Biologist Kris Carlyon spoke of the largest stranding on record before Tasmania. One can hear the long-finned pilot whales that are still living calling to each other in their distress.
Find surviving whales by helicopter
The newly discovered group of pilot whales is located just a few miles from remote Macquarie Bay, where about 270 stranded animals were found Monday. So far, emergency services have managed to get about 25 of them into deeper waters. However, some of them were stranded again overnight, Deka said.
Emergency services wanted to determine the number of animals still living Wednesday from a helicopter using infrared technology. Most of them cannot be reached by boat, Carlyon said. The rescue operation will probably take a few days. Long-finned pilot whales are robust animals and can survive for several days in cool temperatures and rain. Rescuers focused on the animals with the best chance of survival.
Whales are often stranded in Tasmania, but never so many
It is one of the most difficult rescue operations compared to previous mass strandings in the region, Carlyon said. In Tasmania, whales are stranded quite frequently, but generally far fewer animals are affected. A smaller group of sperm whales had recently washed ashore in the area.
Long-finned pilot whales, also known as pilot whales, are very social animals. Several hundred whales can migrate together. The groups, called schools, follow individual lead animals. They also swim after this in shallow water, where they can no longer orient themselves.
In such mass strandings, the causes of which are not yet clear, most animals generally die. One problem with rescue operations is that animals that are taken to deeper water often swim back to their companions who are still stranded. (SDA)
