11 Beached Whales Rescued By Volunteers
Rescuers help a beached pilot whale in Tasmania, Australia. Photo: Tasmanian Department of Primary Industry and Water.
Australian volunteers have helped save 11 pilot whales from death in a mass stranding on a beach in Tasmania, Australia.
Around 60 volunteers joined 15 government officers to keep the beached whales alive while transporting them to a nearby beach with deeper water.
The whales were found stranded on Saturday at Anthony’s Beach, near Stanley on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Australia.
53 Whales Died
In total, 64 mothers and calves were stranded, but only 12 were alive when they were found.
The rescuers spent the night keeping the remaining whales from overheating by splashing water over them. Out of the 12 remaining whales, one died while being returned to the water at Godfreys Beach, around 17 kilometers away.
An Outstanding Effort
While 11 surviving whales vs 53 dead whales might not sound like an outstanding success, whale rescue efforts are known for their low success rates. Many efforts fail to save even one beached whale.
“The efforts of the volunteers and the Circular Head community has been outstanding.” said Parks and Wildlife Services manager Chris Arthur, who co-ordinated the rescue effort.
“They gave up a weekend. People got sunburnt. People got engaged with these animals,” he said.
“We used specially built car trailers, which we were able to put up to two whales in each. And we transported those animals 17 kilometres (11 miles) to Godfrey’s Beach,” Arthur said.
Satellite Tracking
Before the whales were released back into the sea, the team attached satellite trackers to their dorsel fins. This will help the team keep track of the whales’ progress.
The satellite trackers can transmit the whales’ location to a datacenter in France. The team is then able to access that information from Australia.
Great Progress So Far
According to data received from the satellite this morning, the whales’ progress looks good so far. Information from the satellite showed that the whales were swimming east across Bass Strait.
“Even though we released the whales because of the weather conditions over about a three-hour period, it [the satellite data] told us that those whales did regroup at sea.” said Rosemary Gales, a scientist involved in the rescue effort.
“We can’t keep track of the whales in the boats when they power off and they disappear into the distance but we now know from the satellite information that they did regroup and they have been travelling together as a pod - which is absolutely fantastic news because it does make us think that the rescue was a success.” she continued.
Mystery
Whale beachings occur periodically across Australia and New Zealand. The reason why whales beach themselves remains a mystery. Some scientists believe that it’s due to acoustic smog - human made noise that can disorientate whales and other marine life.
Tags: australia, Conservation, marine life, whales
November 24th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
After almost 40 years of trying to solve the whale stranding mystery, my group has finally accomplished its goal. (http://www.deafwhale.com)
We believe the pod stranded near Stanley, Tasmania was injured on 20 October by an undersea earthquake 2,400 miles upstream from the stranding site.
http://www.deafwhale.com/stranded_whale/2008/pilot_whales_nov_tasmania.htm
July 10th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Hello.
Do you by any chance have, or know where i might find the stats for the whale rescue sucess rates in your part of the world? Here in South Africa a lot of folks are referring to Australias and New Zealands whale rescue programmes, but noone seems to know the numbers.
I saw your reference “known for their low success rates” and was hoping you had some numbers (hopefully something official or preferably a peer reviewed paper).
many thanks
nice site
Phil
July 10th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
I don’t currently have any statistics for this - the “low success rate” line was based on anecdotal reports rather than actual numbers.
Having said this, according to Greenpeace New Zealand, New Zealand has the highest success rate in the world at 95% (although, it also has the most strandings).
Here’s Greenpeace’s article:
http://weblog.greenpeace.org.nz/oceans/whale-resuce-101/
I realize that 95% probably doesn’t sound like a “low success rate”, however, this is reportedly the highest success rate in the world.
July 12th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Cool, well thanks for getting back to me! much appreciated.
The Greenpeace article is interesting, but I’m really interested in some real numbers from someone without a vested interest .n
I’ll keep looking.
Thanks again though