Just five out of 150 short-finned pilot whales survive mass beaching in Western Australian
Rescuers are still keeping watch because the animals are known to return to dry land after similar mass stranding events
More than 150 short-finned pilot whales stranded themselves on the southwestern tip of Australia, stunning parks officials and prompting a massive rescue effort to save as many as possible.
The mass beaching likely took place sometime on Wednesday night to early Thursday morning at Hamelin Bay in Western Australia, according to the state’s parks and wildlife service. Videos of the scene showed dozens of the animals piled against each other on the shore, many with their tails still wiggling, as onlookers expressed concern. Some whales were fully on dry land, while others were in shallow waters.
Officials quickly shut the beach down, issued a shark alert for the area and rushed equipment and trained volunteers to the site to try to return the pilot whales to deeper water. Despite rescue efforts, only five of the stranded whales survived the ordeal.
The surviving whales, up to 5 1/2 metres (16.4 feet) long, were moved to deeper waters, but Parks and Wildlife Service Incident Controller Jeremy Chick warned on Saturday that whales often return to dry land after mass stranding events.
He asked the public at Hamelin Bay, south of Perth, to keep an eye in case they spot a stranded whale.
A sixth whale was freed into shallow waters on Friday but it beached again and had to be euthanized.