Sydney, Oct. 12, (dpa/GNA) – Three whales were released and one died on Sunday after a new stranding at the same location as Australia’s worst mass beaching of around 460 pilot whales last month.
The four pilot whales were likely part of the same pod that came into Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania’s west coast three weeks ago.
They had been “free-swimming within Macquarie Harbor” since the original stranding, Sam Thalmann, wildlife biologist at Tasmania’s Marine Conservation Program told ABC radio Monday.
After becoming trapped on a sandbar on Saturday, the three rescued whales all “appeared to be healthy, swimming well and formed a nice tight pod and headed out to sea.”
He said that dark water made it difficult to detect whales in the area, but an extensive aerial survey was conducted on Sunday and authorities did not find any further whales.
In late September, around 470 long-finned pilot whales were found stranded across four sites at Macquarie Heads – the largest mass stranding on record in Australia.
A grueling week-long rescue mission resulted in 111 being saved.
The condition of the small pod that was discovered over the weekend suggested that they had only been stuck for a short time.
Thalmann said that each stranding is potentially unique with many contributing factors.
Authorities are collecting data to find the cause of the latest event, but “at this point we do not have a conclusive reason for the stranding,” Thalmann said.
Pilot whales are among the species most frequently involved in mass strandings in Tasmania.
GNA