Yahoo News 24 Nov 08;
SYDNEY (AFP) – Wildlife officials Monday said rescue efforts had saved 11 whales from a mass stranding on an Australian beach, with the animals now swimming freely in deep water and unlikely to return to land.
Some 64 pilot whales, many of them mothers and calves, were found stranded on Anthonys Beach on the southern Australian island of Tasmania on Saturday.
Fifty-three of the animals died but rescuers worked throughout the weekend to save the rest, eventually hauling 11 of them on to specially-modified vehicles and driving them to a nearby beach for release into the sea.
Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service said satellite tracking devices which had been fitted to five of the rescued whales indicated that the animals were now swimming freely in deep water in Bass Strait.
"While this is good news, we will monitor the wider area with an aircraft," spokesman Chris Arthur said in a statement.
Wildlife officials said they were delighted the 11 rescued whales had regrouped in the water and said it was likely that they would also join up with humpback whales in the area.
"Not only have they survived being put back in the water after their traumatic ordeal but they've also found each other and are travelling with each other," the Department of Primary Industries and Water's David Pemberton said.
He said the tracking devices had proven that the rescue efforts, which involved swooping huge nets around the beached animals and hauling them on to vehicles and then releasing them at another beach, had been successful.
"For the first time in Australia, we have now got data which tells us that they are doing okay -- it is fantastic and incredibly exciting," Pemberton told national news agency AAP.
"In Tasmania, we deal with most whale strandings reported in Australia and previously, rescue attempts have been something of a hope and a prayer.
"Now we know that the rescue efforts are well worth it -- we have the evidence that tells us so."
Whale strandings are not uncommon in Tasmania but why they occur remains a subject of scientific debate.
Officials said autopsies will be carried out on the dead whales, which measured up to three metres (10 feet) in length.
Whales rescued from Australian beach join pod
Yahoo News 24 Nov 08;
HOBART, Australia – A group of whales rescued from an Australian beach have joined a larger pod in deep waters — a sign they are doing fine after their ordeal, an official said Monday.
Rescuers tagged five of eleven pilot whales they plucked from the beach in southern Tasmania state Sunday with satellite tracking devices so they could follow the animals' progress.
It was the first time tracking devices had been used in a whale rescue in Australia.
By Monday morning, the tagged whales had found a larger pod of whales and were swimming east toward migration routes know to be used by humpback whales, said wildlife officer David Pemberton.
"Not only have they survived being put back in the water after their traumatic ordeal but they've also found each other and are traveling with each other," said Pemberton, who is from Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries and Water.
"Previously, rescue attempts have been something of a hope and a prayer," Pemberton said. "Now we know that the rescue efforts are well worth it, we have the evidence that tells us so."
Whales that become beached are sometimes known to return in confusion to dangerously shallow waters after being freed, dismaying rescuers.
When the 64 stranded mothers and their young were found on Saturday, 52 had already died and one died overnight despite volunteers spending the night pouring water over the animal to keep it from overheating.
Dozens of volunteers and government wildlife officers used giant slings to hoist the 11 survivors into trucks and drive them to a deep-water beach in Tasmania. They were released Sunday afternoon, some 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) away on Tasmania's northwest coast.
Strandings are not uncommon in Tasmania, where the whales pass by on their migration to and from Antarctic waters. It is not known why whales get stranded.
