This photo provided by Huon Aquaculture, shows whales stranded at Macquarie Harbor in Strahan, Tasmania, Australia, Sept. 21, 2022.
Wildlife officials in the Australian island state of Tasmania are dealing with a mass stranding of hundreds of whales.
About 230 whales have beached themselves on the island’s western coast, with half of the group presumed to still be alive, officials said Wednesday. The pod, or group, appear to be pilot whales.
The discovery of the beached whales on Macquarie Harbor comes just two days after 14 sperm whales were discovered stranded on Tasmania’s King Island, located on the island’s Bass Strait, a southeastern waterway that separates Tasmania from the Australian coast.
Mass pilot whale strandings are common in Tasmania, although marine scientists have not come up with a definitive answer for the phenomenon.
Nearly 500 pilot whales beached themselves in the same area back in 2020. Rescuers managed to save just over 100 of the group.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
