SYDNEY, Australia — Wildlife officials in the Australian state of Tasmania began disposing of hundreds of dead pilot whales on Saturday after ending rescue attempts in one of the largest incidents of whale beaching ever recorded globally. In all, rescuers saved 108 out of the 470 whales that landed this week on a wide, remote sandbank in Tasmania’s rugged Macquarie Harbour. That prompted a five-day rescue effort involving dozens of volunteers who braved cold waters to guide as many of the animals as possible back out to sea. And most of those freed, including orphaned calves, are expected to recover from the traumatic event. As officials concluded that rescue efforts could no longer save any more whales, however, the bodies of the dead were being corralled into pods and enclosed with water booms to keep them together and protected from sharks.

Source: New York Times September 26, 2020 12:11 UTC