Rescuers are trying to save the survivors after approximately 230 whales were stranded in a very eerie beaching incident in Tassie.
According to the ABC’s latest reporting, around 35 of the poor whales are still surviving, but the clock is ticking. The pilot whales rocked up on Ocean Beach in Macquarie Harbour on Wednesday. And in some particularly ooky spooky news, this stranding happened two years to the very bloody day of Australia’s worst-ever whale stranding.
On September 21 of 2020, 470 pilot whales were stranded in the same harbour and over 350 died. Maybe pilot whales just really hate Earth, Wind and Fire?
Regional operations manager of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service Brendon Clark told the ABC that the priority for Thursday morning would be a bonafide rescue operation to release the surviving whales.
“We are conscious that some of them may re-beach themselves and so we’ll be monitoring that,” he said.
Rescuers have been helping keep the whales cool by covering them in damp towels and sheets, and using buckets of water.
Another layer to the mystery is the fact that earlier this week, there was yet another whale stranding in Tassie. 14 sperm whales were found dead on King Island.
One of the wildest things about the whole situation is the fact that we just don’t know why these Tassie whale strandings keep happening.
Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a marine expert, explained that whale strandings are pretty much a mystery.
“Because this has been the same species, same location, same time, it is the case that there might be something environmental about the area,” she said, per The Guardian.
Those could include whale misnavigation, or something to do with Tasmania’s topography.
“It could also be a sick individual that may have led the whole pod astray,” she said.
Pilot whales — which are technically a type of large oceanic dolphin — are very sociable lil guys. That means they’re susceptible to following each other into danger like this.
The whole situation is both very spooky and very sad. Flippers crossed the rescuers down in Tassie will be able to save the remaining whales and get them swimming merrily away.
