AFP, published Friday 23 September 2022 at 08:58
Australian rescuers on Friday attempted to refloat the last surviving pilot dolphins after they were stranded on a Tasmanian beach where more than 200 of their own kind had died.
Fewer than a dozen of these glossy black mammals remain alive, state wildlife services said Friday.
“The priority remains to rescue and refloat the animals that are still alive” and those stranded back on shore, said Brendon Clark, responsible for the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.
Three pilot whales have not yet been reached because they were too far from shore and difficult tidal conditions, he told reporters at the scene.
The next step, he explained, will be to remove the carcasses.
About 30 pilot whales were refloated Thursday, but some stranded on Ocean Beach a second time.
Around 230 mammals were found on the beach on Wednesday and since then rescuers and local residents have been mobilizing to save them.
Almost two years to the day, Macquarie Harbour, where this phenomenon took place, was the site of another massive stranding involving nearly 500 pilot dolphins.
More than 300 of them were then dead, despite the efforts of dozens of volunteers who fought for days in Tasmania’s freezing waters to free the animals.
The causes of these large strandings are not fully known.
Researchers have suggested they could be caused by groups of whales straying too close to shore after feeding.
These pilot whales, which can grow up to six meters in length, are very social animals, they can follow members of their group who get lost and endanger themselves.