World News – GB – Death at Hells Gates: Rescuers witness tragic end of hundreds of pilot whales on Australian coast

Ingrid Albion has helped save whales and dolphins for three decades, but has never seen anything on such a scale before No one in Australia has

In the rugged beauty of Macquarie Harbor, a rugged Southern Ocean frontier on the west coast of Tasmania, she witnessed the biggest disaster of its kind seen in this part of the world

During the night of last Sunday, hundreds of pilot whales washed up in three places inside and outside the harbor Albion, a marine biologist and education officer with the state’s parks and wildlife department, was one of the first responders

Related: Tragedy In Tasmania: What Are Pilot Whales & Why Are They Going Ashore?

She found brown whales struggling on a shallow sandbar just inside the heads, not far from the entrance known as Hells Gates, and lined up along an ocean beach at proximity

Unfortunately, those inside the harbor were accompanied by their young offspring, known as calves Small enough to avoid being stranded, they circled the area singing for their mothers and swimming to the lifeguards to bang their legs It made for an overwhelming scene

« As far as humans can understand they are definitely calling each other and that seems to be reassuring, » Albion says, as she squeezes a hot cup of tea after an eight-hour day in the water

« It really was a chaotic event, and if this is the first time [at a massive stranding], there are so many emotions There are dead whales, there are living whales, there are there are beats, there are babies calling – a lot is happening

« It’s not like people start to cry, but you can just feel that people are really connected to this whale You are sometimes with these whales for a few hours… and it’s like having life of an animal in your hands « 

No one really knows what brought the pilot whales through Hell’s Gates What we do know is that the alarm was triggered during a phone call to the police by a local early Monday morning

An early estimate suggested there were around 70 stranded whales, but that number quickly rose to 270 after water and air assessments revealed that the pod members were spread over three Site (s By the end of Monday, marine conservation teams and volunteers were arriving from across the state, ready to launch a first-light rescue campaign on Tuesday.

When around 200 carcasses were found adrift in the tannin-stained waters of the vast harbor on Wednesday, and the death toll climbed to around 380, it was clear this was the largest massive stranding ever of whales ever recorded in Australia, and among the worst ever recorded

On Thursday, rescuers focused on reducing the number of survivors, racing to get the most out of the head using a technique involving harnesses attached to the side of small boats Meanwhile, there was the problem of the carcasses, which could deoxygenate the harbor by decomposing, suffocating local species and attracting sharks through Hell’s Gates.

The death toll was confirmed on Friday, including five who were too weak to save and had to be euthanized by gunshot But there was also good news: 94 whales had been rescued, far more than what authorities had expected earlier this week

Kris Carlyon, a government wildlife biologist, says it was an « absolutely fantastic » result considering how much worse it could have been « Monday, as we were trying to make plans, if we had said we were going to win 90% of the bar, we would have been happy « 

Albion’s first job early Tuesday was to tackle the whales at Ocean Beach As the wind blew and the rain fell, his first impression was that the 30s along the shore were already lost

“We were driving down the beach thinking we were looking at a pod of dead whales, but when we came to whale number 10 it was lifting its head,” she said “It creates a kind of feeling in you from « oh, I can do something, I can make a difference here » « 

Over the next few hours, a team of around 20 worked to save a handful of surviving stranded whales Others focused on the hundreds of people stranded in chest deep water on the sandbar , an operation that would go on for days

For those in the water, the most urgent task was to straighten and stabilize the bodies of the whales, which can weigh up to three tons, to prevent them from drowning

For those on the beach, it involved cooling the animals by covering them with towels and sliding mats under their stomachs so that they could be hoisted onto a trailer and led to a release point from where they were could swim to the ocean

Despite being a global stranding hotspot, Tasmania has not seen a major episode in over a decade Albion first saw a massive whale stranding and a rescue in New Zealand about 30 years ago For the past 25 years she has been responsible for training Tasmanian government staff and volunteers using inflatable dummy whales For many it was their first experience of the real thing

« There is a little bit of excitement and I think a lot of people felt overwhelmed because there were so many whales on the beach, but when you start to focus on a whale, everyone just work together « , she says

The rescue team over the week totaled around 100, including scientists, fish farmers, government officials and surf rescuers The mood for the end of this week was a mix of exhaustion and sadness, but also quiet satisfaction with what had been accomplished

Some have described the heart-wrenching scene where released whales were directed towards the heads only to turn in response to a cry from another pod member and run aground again About 10 of those carried overhead washed up on Thursday night

For Tony van den Enden, Managing Director of Surf Lifesaving Tasmania and overseeing a rotating team of around 40 volunteers, the rescue operation was an emotional roller coaster – both agonizing and exhilarating.

“It’s surreal,” he said after returning from the sandbank on Thursday “You obviously see how sweet and tall these creatures are, and even though they are in such distress, they almost seem know you’re trying to help

« Being able to help when they’re so vulnerable is humiliating in a way, but also makes you feel like you’re trying to make a difference »

But the scene at Macquarie Heads late Friday remained unmistakably dark Seven more whales had been released, but the view from the boat launch was sobering: a sandbar turned into a makeshift morgue, with dozens of lifeless bodies half submerged on the sandbank

Scientists said it was unclear what attracted them to the port, but there was no indication it was anything other than a natural tragedy

Pilot whales are an oceanic species which despite its name is part of the dolphin family.They travel in large pods and are prone to mass stranding when they get too close to shore. coastlines can wreak havoc with their echolocation – the clicks and other sounds they use to communicate and orient themselves when swimming in a pod or chasing fish on the ocean floor Theories have shown that this pod has become perhaps unusually close to shore to feed before getting into trouble

Authorities were still thinking about what to do with the bodies, but leaned towards an ocean dump – dragging them past heads and slicing off their fat to help them sink

As for the survivors, it was hoped that they could turn into a smaller capsule and avoid repeated stranding. “Ideally they’ll regroup,” Carlyon says “They’ll reform those ties and get on with things This is obviously a stressful event for them But we have high hopes « 

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Pilot whales, Australia, cetaceans, cetacean stranding, Tasmania