stuck near Arthur River<\/a> the previous night.<\/p>\nAuthorities say about 90 of the\u00a0whales\u00a0still alive on the beach will be euthanised by firearm over coming days, in accordance with world-best practice.<\/p>\n
Rough seas, windy conditions and rugged terrain have complicated the rescue and hampered efforts to get equipment to the site.<\/p>\n
Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service incident controller Shelley Graham said the\u00a0whales\u00a0they tried to re-float continually re-stranded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe swell is up quite a lot. It is quite windy and rough and the animals can\u2019t get past the (surf) break to get out,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really unfavourable for getting the\u00a0whales\u00a0out into the water unfortunately.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing expert veterinarian assessments we have decided euthanasia is necessary for animal welfare reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
State environment department wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon said misadventure was the likely reason for the stranding.<\/p>\n
\u201c(This species has) really strong social bonds and it can be one individual that is sick or disorientated that can draw the rest of the pod ashore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a really complex area for these guys to navigate \u2026 any mistake can bring the group ashore.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is the first mass stranding of false killer whales in Tasmania in about 50 years.<\/p>\n
Macquarie University wildlife scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta said a race against time began as soon as a whale or dolphin stranded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moment a whale or dolphin strands, the clock of survival starts ticking. The longer they remain on land, the less of a chance they may have to be successfully returned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps it\u2019s the geographical location, which make it difficult to navigate around. This is just one of many theories that may help understand why this happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
In footage posted to social media on Wednesday, some of the stranded whales could be seen\u00a0breathing and moving.<\/p>\n
Wildlife workers are reluctant to bring heavy machinery onto the beach to remove carcasses, because of the remote location and nearby sensitive Indigenous sites.<\/p>\n
People have also been advised to avoid the area because of a bushfire, which has put a further strain on rescue resources.<\/p>\n
In 2022, about 230 pilot whales got into trouble in shallow water at the heads of Macquarie Harbour.<\/p>\n
The environment department said all whales \u2013 living or deceased \u2013 are a protected species and it is an offence to interfere with a carcass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Authorities will begin the bleak task of euthanising dozens of false killer\u00a0whales\u00a0after 157 beached on Tasmania\u2019s remote west coast \u2013 a hotspot for strandings. Crews tried unsuccessfully to re-float two of the mammals on Wednesday after members of the public reported the group had become\u00a0stuck near Arthur River the previous night. Authorities say about 90 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,61],"tags":[48,19],"class_list":["post-750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-insta-gratification","tag-columns","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":751,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions\/751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futuredesignteam.in\/client\/politicus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}