About 160 pilot whales (Globicephala melas) have stayed stranded on a remote beach in the town of Dunsboroughin southwestern Australia, of which at least 26 have died, as reported this Thursday, April 25, 2024, by official sources.
“We understand that there are four groups of up to 160 pilot whales in total spread over about 500 meters,” the Western Australian State Parks and Wildlife Service said on Facebook, stating that 110 of them are very close to the coast.
“Unfortunately, 26 whales that were stranded on the beach have died,” added this state agency.
The Park Service deployed teams of experts to an area known as Toby Inlet, more than 250 kilometers south of the city of Perth, in the morning to evaluate the situation of these marine mammals, try to take them to the high seas or sacrifice them if there is no other alternative.
Based on previous similar incidents in southwestern Australia, experts believe that euthanasia is generally the most humane option. “We always hope for the best”accurate.
Despite various investigations, to date scientists have not yet been able to explain why whales sometimes deviate from their routes and become stranded in shallow waters, although the possibility of them getting lost due to noise pollution is considered. or guided by a disoriented group leader.
The largest known cetacean stranding in Oceania was recorded in the Chatham Islands, about 800 kilometers off the southeast coast of New Zealand, when about a thousand pilot whales became stranded in that remote location in 1918.
In Australia, the worst mass stranding occurred in 2020 when 470 pilot whales stranded in a remote area of ​​the island of Tasmaniaof which only a hundred could be rescued and taken to the high seas, while two years later most of the 230 pilot whales that remained in that same place died.
Source: https://www.noticiascaracol.com/mundo/unas-160-ballenas-piloto-se-quedaron-varadas-en-playa-de-australia-y-al-menos-26-murieron-cb20
