Wildlife professionals have spent days attempting to return whales stranded off Tasmania's west coast into deeper waters.
On Wednesday, 230 beached pilot whales were discovered near Strahan. Yesterday, rescuers said 32 of the 35 surviving animals had been taken into deeper waters.
However, there's plenty of work still ahead, and the memory or the last mass stranding in the same spot exactly two years ago is all too fresh.
Strahan resident Patrick Botha saw the whales firsthand while on a walk with his wife early on Wednesday morning.
He reached out through a work group chat to ensure Parks and Wildlife were aware of the confronting scene despite the low reception in the area.
He said his first thought when he spotted the stranded animals was "not again".
"It was confronting, especially when we've been through this before now, just over two years ago. And we've only just recovered now," he said.
"Over the last year, the beaches are back to normal and you're excited about a good summer down in Strahan and this happens again. It's devastating to tourism, and obviously the wildlife.
"There's nothing more depressing than watching anything alive, you know, dying when you can't do anything about it."
He said initially he and his wife spotted just one whale, when they were only about 2km down the beach. The further down the beach they went, the more they saw.
Success driving motivation
A marine biologist with the department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE), Sam Thalmann has been a part of the part of the rescue effort at Macquarie Harbour this week, and also in 2020.
This week, that has involved helping to sling the animals out of the shallow water, with the rescue team working to ensure the whales are being kept cool and assessing any skin damage, checking temperatures and respiratory levels.
Mr Thalmann said it was emotionally taxing work, but the knowledge that even a few whales would be saved by the team's efforts kept everyone pushing through.
"Pilot whales are very sentient beings," he said.
"We can often hear them calling and communicating to each other.
"Getting a few, or getting those that we can, returned out to sea to they can re-associate with wild long-finned pilot whales makes it all worthwhile."
Brad Martin, a dive supervisor with Huon Aquaculture, echoed Mr Thalmann's sentiments.
"It's just good to see everybody come together," he said.
"It's just nice to see that West Coast spirit, and Tasmanian spirit. Everybody just gets in and gets their hands dirty and gets involved."
Wellbeing at the forefront of rescue effort
Incident Controller of the NRE, Brendon Clark, said the 2020 stranding had proven just what an emotional toll a rescue effort could take.
He said a health and wellbeing officer had been instated this time, to be a "primary carer" and monitor of those involved.
"We have also got our employee assistance program, other processes and system within NRE Tasmania which provide traditional and mental health and wellbeing to our staff," Mr Clark said.
He said there would also be debrief sessions after the event, to ensure any lessons that could be learned form these experiences were noted.
"We'll be getting all the information from our staff and others involved in it so that we can best care for them post-event and learn from it so we can implement best procedures for the next subsequent event."
