The race to save dozens of pilot whales that stranded themselves on a beach in Australia has come to a sombre end.
On Tuesday, the pod of about 100 whales stranded itself on Cheynes Beach, near the city of Albany in Western Australia. Tragically, more than 50 of the whales perished overnight.
After two days of intense efforts, wildlife officials will euthanise the survivors of the pod, acknowledging that the challenging mission to save them has ended.
Wildlife officials and hundreds of dedicated volunteers had tirelessly worked throughout Wednesday, putting forth tremendous efforts to rescue the surviving whales.
Despite the continuous efforts to lead the remaining 45 stranded whales to deeper waters, attempts proved unsuccessful.
As a consequence, on Wednesday, authorities made the decision to euthanise the survivors.
The Western Australia Parks and Wildlife Service said the whales persistently returned to the shallows, indicating that their chances of survival in deeper waters were slim.
“Sadly, the decision had to be made to euthanise the remaining whales to avoid prolonging their suffering,” the service said.
“It was a difficult decision for all involved, however, the welfare of the whales had to take precedence,” it said.
Peter Hartley, a manager from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, and Attractions who was in charge of overseeing the response to the stranded whales, spoke about the decision to euthanise the survivors.
He described the process as “incredibly hard”, highlighting the emotional toll and difficulty associated with making such a heartbreaking choice.
“Probably one of the hardest decisions of my 34 years of wildlife management. Really, really difficult,” Mr Hartley said.
“It was a considered and well-thought-out decision. And you know, we thank the support of the veterinarians that assisted with the assessments and the advice that they gave me to make that decision,” he said.
Drone footage released by the state government showed the whales clustering and remarkably forming a heart shape before they ultimately stranded themselves on the beach on Tuesday.
“We’re getting requests from around the world from scientists wanting the video footage of them all huddled together on Tuesday,” Mr Hartley said.
“We’re going to be learning a lot about the behaviour. We’re also going to be learning a great deal about the genetics, the make-up of that group, were they related?” he said.
On the remote Chatham Islands in New Zealand last October, approximately 500 pilot whales tragically died after they beached themselves.
