Around 70 cetaceans have been stranded in a Tasmanian bay in southern Australia, local authorities said on Monday, as experts mobilize to see if a rescue is possible.
The animals are stuck in Macquarie Harbor, a bay closed by a narrow pass on the island’s wild and sparsely populated west coast. They may be stranded on a sandbank.
Police have been dispatched to the scene, and cetacean specialists are also expected to assess the situation, the Tasmanian environment ministry said.
“Other teams with whale rescue equipment will arrive later,” the ministry said in a statement.
They could be pilot whales, which has not yet been confirmed.
Strandings of marine mammals are relatively frequent in Tasmania, but this is of particular concern given the large number of animals involved.
He came as the media had become passionate about the plight of humpback whales that had strayed in crocodile-infested rivers in northern Australia in recent days, according to the Department of National Parks.
Two of the cetaceans, first seen in the East Alligator River in Kakadu National Park, appeared to have returned to sea around ten days ago, according to the Australian Parks Service.
But authorities were monitoring a third whale that had been seen 20 kilometers upstream from the river.
Public broadcaster ABC reports that the cetacean, which spent 17 days in this river, was finally spotted on the high seas off Darwin.