Stranded pilot whales in Tasmania

Eleven pilot whales that survived a mass stranding in Tasmania that killed 53 others have been returned to the ocean, authorities say. A well-coordinated rescue effort, involving 60 volunteers and 15 government officers, began today at Anthonys Beach near Stanley on Tasmania's northwest coast.

Parks and Wildlife Services manager Chris Arthur said 12 whales were transported 17km along the Bass Highway on special trucks to deep water at Godfreys Beach. It was there, about 24 hours after the stranding was discovered by a beach walker, that 11 surviving mammals were successfully returned to the sea, he said. "Unfortunately, one whale died as we were returning it to the water," Mr Arthur said. "The efforts of the volunteers and the Circular Head community has been outstanding." Mr Arthur said the surviving whales, from a maternal pod of mothers and calves, were a mixture of young and old and were up to 3m long. Satellite tracking devices were placed on some of the whales and a reconnaissance plane would undertake a flight on Monday to check their progress, he said.

53 whales died in the stranding. Samples for scientific research had been taken from the dead mammals and a mass burial would be arranged. Whale strandings are not uncommon in Tasmania. "The area where they have stranded this time is an area where there have been strandings for hundreds of years," he said. Pilot whales are members of the dolphin family but are considered by experts to behave more like whales. A number of theories have been put forward as to why whales strand themselves but the phenomenon remains a subject of scientific debate.