Perth, 26 April 2024 – The bad news is that at least 29 whales I am death. The good news is that there have been over 100 save. The images that come from Dunsborough, a coastal town in Western Australia, are heartbreaking. The Australian media and animal rights associations have relaunched them via social media: dozens and dozens of beached cetaceans, some dying, others dead. They are exemplars of pilot whalealso call pilot dolphins or pilot whales. They reach almost 7.5 meters in length and 4 and a half quintals in weight.
The human rescue chain
The first alarm arrived yesterday morning via social media. “There are whales stranded near Marybrook, come and help.” Police, volunteers, vets and marine scientists from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions of Western Australia and Perth Zoo attended the scene and created a mass rescue, avoiding the numbers of the Albany massacre (90 specimens died last July). Someone poured water on the whales in an attempt to keep them alive until they could be dragged back into a body of water deep enough for them to swim again.
The suppressed specimen and the risk of a trap
At least 29 animals but they didn’t make it. A young whale was suppressed, as often happens in these cases. The concern is that could send distress signalsinadvertently attracting dozens of specimens in trap. So far the boats have managed to keep other whales away from the affected stretch of coast (500 metres). But pilot whales have very strong bonds with each other and it is not known how they might react. Department of Biodiversity officials will continue to monitor, including from the air.
In a press conference yesterday afternoon the Department explained that the reason for the mass stranding is unknown. But experts have learned something from the events at Cheynes Beach last July, when 50 whales died stranded and another 40 were euthanized: in that case it was observed that the school had gathered offshore before heading to shore. The same happened in this case.
The map: where Dunsborough is located
Why mass strandings happen
Pilot whales have strong social bonds and act in groups. That said, “each stranding event is relatively unique – explains Joshua Smith, marine biologist and researcher at Murdoch University, quoted by Perthnow.com –. It’s a complex situation. This depends, in many cases, on unique factors, including location, the species involved, the number of animals, and even the animals’ response to the stranding.” This is why, although mass strandings are common, researchers have not yet been able to understand exactly why events like these happen.
