After a major whale stranding even on the west coast of Tasmania, close to 200 whales were hauled back into the sea for burials as none of the sea creatures survived on the Ocean Beach.
The pod of approximately 230 pilot whales were found on the Ocean Beach, west of Strahan with a smaller number found stranded in the nearby Macquarie Harbour. This is the second largest whale stranding spectacle to occur in the same location after 470 whales were found stranded out of which 380 lost their lives in September 2020.
Volunteers, marine biologists and others in the industry were instructed to move the carcasses back into the ocean and clear the beach as soon as possible. “We are looking at rationalising crews and resources as we believe we can start to scale back the operation given the positive results that have been achieved over the last two to three days,” says Brendon Clark, who is the controller of the incident and the person-in-charge.
Whilst none of the whales on Ocean Beach survived, two of them were rescued from Macquarie Harbour. Even though an incident of this sort to occur is extremely unfortunate, it is not new for Tasmanian locals who believe that the deep waters and high tides of the west coast area make it a hub for whale stranding.
“We’ve been very conscious of trying to minimise that impact and we believe that we’ve done so effectively.” continues Brendon Clark as he speaks about the consequences of such a devastating episode.
This sort of thing happening for the second time in the same location within a span of two years is not an unfortunate coincidence, but a result of our own actions as we allow the Earth to bear the brunt of our carelessness which gives way to climate change and global warming. Our actions cause animals to undergo such traumatic situations where they are killed. It is time to be conscious of what we do and how we do it so we can sustainably preserve all life on this planet.
