A pod of false killer whales that stranded on a remote beach on Tasmania’s West Coast have been euthanised.
The stranding in which 157 whales were initially discovered occurred near Arthur River on Tuesday.
Of the original group, about 67 whales were still alive when authorities arrived. Teams had to euthanise 27 on Wednesday afternoon, while 25 more died overnight.
The remaining 15 whales were humanely put to sleep on Thursday, which Parks and Wildlife’s Brendan Clark said was due to animal welfare reasons.
“The conditions that the team faced yesterday in attempts to refloat the whales proved very challenging and in fact dangerous to our staff in those prevailing conditions,” he said.
“Euthanasia is always a last resort for these types of events during whale strandings.”
Licensed and professionally trained firearm experts with specialised ammunition carried out the culling under the guidance of wildlife veterinarians.
“On behalf of the Department we want to reiterate that these decisions are very difficult to make and can be quite emotional for the community and we totally understand that,” Clark said.
“It’s also very emotionally demanding on our staff involved and we have our internal support networks to facilitate that.”
Scientists are now conducting post-mortem investigations, including full necropsies, to better understand why these mass strandings occur.
Options for the disposal of the whale carcasses are now being considered, including leaving them on the beach to decompose naturally or burying them on-site using machinery.
“Historical fossil samples indicate that these types of strandings have been occurring in this particular area for a long, long time, hundreds if not thousands of years,” Clark said.
“So whilst the carcasses and the remnants may be an eyesore initially, they certainly do add to that cultural heritage that continues to accumulate on the West Coast.”
The natural decomposition process for the whales is expected to take approximately 12 months.
