Australia to shoot scores of stranded whales
Australian wildlife rangers are to euthanise 90 dolphins stuck on a remote beach by shooting them, after attempts to refloat them failed.
A pod of 157 dolphins, known as false killer whales, was found stranded Tuesday evening on an isolated beach in Tasmania.
By Wednesday afternoon, Tasmania's environment department said only 90 dolphins had survived and were growing increasingly 'stressed' because of sun exposure and lashing winds.
Shelley Graham, the incident controller, said: 'Following expert veterinary assessment, we have made the decision to euthanise the animals.
'That's likely to be the course of action for all 90.'
Efforts to refloat the dolphins had proved unsuccessful because of the remote location, according to Kris Carlyon, a biologist.
He said: 'This is possibly the trickiest location I've seen in 16 years of doing this in Tasmania. It is extremely remote, extremely difficult to get access.
'We've given it a good crack this morning, but we are running out of options for a successful refloat.'
The dolphins were pictured on Tuesday struggling in wet sand as a shallow tide lapped against them.
Mr Carlyon added: 'Euthanasia of an animal this size, it's not a simple exercise.'
It is reasonably common for pods of false killer whales to strand themselves on Australia's beaches.
But officials said it was the first time in 50 years they had beached in that part of Tasmania.
Mr Carlyon said: 'Often we don't get to the bottom of the ultimate cause.
'They have really strong social bonds. One disoriented individual can drag the rest of them ashore.'
The dolphins were stranded on a beach near the Arthur River inlet on the west coast of Tasmania, a sparsely populated area known for its windswept coastline.
Vanessa Pirotta, a marine scientist, said: 'The moment a whale or dolphin strands, the clock of survival starts ticking.
'We don't yet understand why whales and dolphins strand.
'Tasmania has proven to be a hotspot location for seeing mass strandings like this. Perhaps it's the geographical location – which makes it difficult to navigate around.'
False killer whales can reach up to 6m (20ft) in length and are known as a highly social species that gathers in pods of 50 or more.
Big adults can weigh more than one ton, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The species is often involved in mass strandings that can 'wipe out whole schools involving hundreds of animals', according to the Australian Museum.
Little is known about false killer whales, according to a government factsheet, and there are no reliable estimates of their population size.
The Australian government lists their conservation status as 'near threatened'.
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