120 whales and dolphins die in beachings

More than 120 whales and dolphins died after swimming onto beaches on two southern Australian islands, where rescue teams were desperately trying today to prevent others becoming stranded.

Ninety-seven animals – 72 pilot whales and 25 bottlenose dolphins – died after beaching yesterday on King Island between the Australian mainland and the south-east island state of Tasmania, state government environment spokesman Warwick Brennan said.

On Maria Island, 280 miles away, approximately 25 dead pilot whales were beached, whale rescue expert Shane Hunniford said.

Two dozen more were stranded on the island but appeared to be “reasonably fit and healthy”, he said, adding that authorities were dousing them with water and trying to find ways to get them back to sea.

Authorities are also concerned that bottlenose dolphins swimming in the same bay will also beach themselves unless boats can separate them from the shore.

On King Island, whale and dolphin carcasses were strewn over several hundred yards of a remote beach in Sea Elephant Bay, Brennan said.

“It is quite grim,” Brennan said Monday describing the scene. “You’ve got a large number of spectacular animals that are dead … There are some baby whales as well, so it’s not a pleasant sight.”

Wildlife officers have worked side by side with local volunteers to rescue the mammals.

Marine biologists will take samples from the dead whales and examine weather patterns in a bid to explain the tragic phenomenon.

“Strandings are always a mystery; we’ll see if we can find something that can shed some light on it,” Brennan said.

The beachings come a year after 110 pilot whales and 10 bottlenose dolphins died when they were stranded on Tasmania’s remote west coast.

Scientists at the time said a predator, such as a killer whale, may have driven the animals to their deaths.

Strandings of whales and dolphins on Australia’s beaches are not rare but mass strandings are.