500 whales stranded, 380 dead, in Tasmania

On 21^st September 2020, a large number of pilot whales were found stranded in shallow waters off the west coast of Tasmania, which is an Australian island. About 200 of the mammals had washed up on a sandbar near a boat ramp, while 30 others were found several hundred metres away. Another 30 were found further inland along Ocean Beach. Another 200 stranded whales were spotted from a helicopter two days later, less than 10 km to the south.

A team of about 40 trained rescuers began to "re-float" a small number of whales using equipment to push the animals off a sandbar into deeper waters. About 50 whales were rescued, but 380 whales died.

About 30 whales in the original stranding were moved from the sandbars to open ocean, but several of them got stranded again. The latest mass stranding was the biggest in Australia in terms of numbers stranded and died.

Why the whales ran aground is a mystery. The pod may have been drawn into the coast to feed or by the misadventure of one or two whales, which led to the rest of the pod following. They may have taken a wrong turn, chased their prey into shallow waters, or blindly followed a dying matriarch who intended to beach herself. They have a very strong social system, and these animals are closely bonded. That’s why so many were stranded together.

Rescuing them doesn’t always work because they want to return back to the pod. They might hear the acoustics for the vocalizations of the sounds that the others are making, or they’re just disoriented (and in this case extremely stressed), and just probably so fatigued that they don’t know where they are.

Mass strandings off Tasmania are not uncommon, but the recent beaching is the worst in the state’s history and the first involving more than 50 pilot whales since 2009. In 1935, 294 whales beached themselves in the state.