Over 150 short-finned pilot whales became stranded on a beach on the coast of Western Australia. Only four ultimately survived.
The whales beached themselves across a kilometre of sand at Hamelin Bay, north of Augusta, in the early hours of Friday morning, WA time. A commercial fisherman reported it to authorities at 6am.
Over the weekend, Parks and Wildlife managed to get the remaining seven that were alive out to see, but three whales beached themselves again and were euthanised.
The beach is closed and people are being advised to avoid the area. Incident controller Jeremy Chick said on Saturday night that the carcasses of the dead whales had been moved from the beach.
“All the deceased whales have been removed at the main stranding site and the additional outlying sites. There are two deceased whales remaining in inaccessible terrain and a plan is being developed to remove them as soon as logistically possible," he said in a statement.
Over 100 volunteers helped out the rescue effort, and the beach remained closed on Saturday with a shark alert remaining in place.
The department will work with the local council to remove the dead whales from the beach, and will take DNA samples to try to figure out why they beached in the first place.
Parks and Wildlife said the largest mass beaching of whales in WA happened over 20 years ago, when 320 long-finned pilot whales were stranded in Dunsborough.
Short-finned pilot whales often beach themselves en masse, Parks and Wildlife said.