Nearly 100 pilot whales have died after beaching in Western Australia, wildlife officials said Thursday (Jul 27), following desperate rescue attempts.
The pod of 97 long-finned pilot whales gathered in shallow water off Cheynes Beach, about 400km southeast of Perth, on Tuesday, with scores stranding themselves on the sand
By the next morning, 51 of the cetaceans had died.
About 250 volunteers joined 100 wildlife experts in a vain struggle to save the rest of the pod throughout Wednesday.
Dozens of people in wetsuits stayed in the water, a few on kayaks or surfboards, trying to coax the tightly packed group of remaining pilot whales into deeper waters, and then out to sea.
“Volunteers and everyone attempted to get them back out into the deeper water, and then they re-beached themselves,” a spokeswoman for the Parks and Wildlife Service told AFP.
“From that point, the vets assessed them and it determined on welfare grounds that they needed to euthanised.