But as the week progressed and conditions worsened, the number of survivors began to dwindle. “Of the 35 whales that remained alive this morning, we were able to refloat, rescue and release 32 of these animals and that’s a tremendous result,” Brendon Clarke of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service said in an interview. Press for FRIDAY MORNING. Rangers were forced to euthanize one whale that had re-molted Thursday night, and three other whales remained “inaccessible due to tidal conditions,” Clark said. “The priority remains the rescue and release of the remaining animals and any others re-stranded,” he added. The rescue teams will then proceed to dispose of the carcasses at sea. “We’re going to try to get them as far as we can,” Clark said. Warnings had earlier been given to swimmers to avoid the area in case of a gathering of sharks.
The causes are still unknown
Whale strandings have baffled marine scientists for decades. This is the second mass stranding in Tasmania this week after more than a dozen sperm whales, mostly young males and believed to belong to the same pod of bachelors, were found dead on another beach. The largest stranding occurred in 2020, when more than 450 pilot whales were found. “What caused the whale to strand is unknown and may not be possible to determine,” the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said Thursday. Their experts are currently “undertaking post-mortems” on the latest exclusion.
