By Holly Thompson
At least one of the seven false killer whales stranded on a beach near a tourist town in the Great Southern has been rescued, with hope held that the remaining two still alive also have a chance.
The whales became stranded at House Beach, 12 kilometres east of Bremer Bay in the Shire of Jerramungup on Monday night.
While four of the whales died overnight, 13 Parks and Wildlife staff and 10 volunteers arrived on Tuesday and have managed to save one of the whales, watching it swim away in the afternoon.
While the crew also managed to “refloat” the two remaining living whales, one re-stranded while the other has remained in shallow water.
Aerial surveillance has not detected any other whales offshore, but monitoring will continue to ensure there are no sharks that could pose a risk to the safety of the crew.
“For public safety and to support response efforts, members of the public are advised to avoid the area and to not self-deploy to the incident,” a spokesperson said.
“Thank you to the volunteers who are assisting DBCA staff with this operation.”
Almost exactly a year ago, at the end of April 2024, 160 pilot whales beached themselves at Toby’s Inlet near Dunsborough. While 30 died, a major rescue effort saved the rest.
In July 2023 nearly 100 pilot whales beached themselves at Cheynes Beach in Albany. Despite about half this group being freed by volunteers and DBCA staff in near-freezing conditions, the animals beached themselves a second time and had to be euthanised to end prolonged suffering.
Whale researcher Chris Burton has previously told WAtoday it’s unclear why mass beaching occurs.
“They do it all the time, false killer whales, pilot whales, sperm whales – they strand for some reason, we’re not sure,” Burton said.
More to come
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