90 stranded whales to be euthanized in Tasmania

Officials decided to put down dozens of the oceangoing mammals on Wednesday after attempts to rescue them from stranding on a remote Tasmanian beach failed. A resident of the Australian island discovered the large pod of 157 stranded whales including adults and calves, according to Tasmania’s Marine Conservation Program. Only 90 were still alive. Experts including marine biologists and veterinarians attempted to refloat some of the whales, but unfavorable ocean and weather conditions pushed them back to shore, the program wrote in a later post. Part of a beach was closed to the public while the whales were stranded.

False killer whales are a type of dolphin named for their resemblance to orcas. They are protected under Australian law. The last mass stranding of false killer whales in Tasmania was nearly 50 years ago, in 1974.

Why did the whales get stranded? A wildlife department officer said in a press conference that no one knows how the stranding occurred. Helicopter reconnaissance found no other whales within 6 miles of the stranded pod. Marine biologist Kris Carlyon told local news that highly social species like the false killer whale are more likely to experience mass strandings.