Posted on © 2024 by Linda Moulton Howe

Unexplained Stranding of 200 Pilot Whales and Dolphins

“An effort was made in the large King Island stranding to return the animals to deeper water, but in some cases, the animal turned around from deeper water and went straight back to the beach.”

- Scott Baker, Ph.D., OSU Marine Mammal Institute

“It is pretty darn sad, you can hear them crying.”

- John Nievaart, King Island, Tasmania resident

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200 pilot whales (species of dolphin) and a few bottle-nosed dolphins began mass stranding on Sunday, night, March 1, 2009, at a King Island beach above. On March 2, 2009, about 50 animals were saved by human volunteers (below) and the rest died. King Island is in the Bass Strait between northern Tasmania, an Australian state, and Melbourne, Australia. Image courtesy Liz Wren, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.
200 pilot whales (species of dolphin) and a few bottle-nosed dolphins began mass stranding on Sunday, night, March 1, 2009, at a King Island beach above. On March 2, 2009, about 50 animals were saved by human volunteers (below) and the rest died. King Island is in the Bass Strait between northern Tasmania, an Australian state, and Melbourne, Australia. Image courtesy Liz Wren, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.
On March 2, 2009, volunteers saved about fifty of the 200 pilot whales (dolphins) and bottle-nosed dolphins that beached on King Island north of Tasmania beginning on March 1, 2009. An unusual series of strandings has occurred since early Nov. 2008, when 60 pilot whales were stranded not far from King Island; on Nov. 29, 2008, 150 pilot whales and dolphins stranded and all died near King Island; in January 2009, 50 sperm whales stranded and all died near King Island. Scientists are puzzled by the the unexplained series of cetacean beachings. Image courtesy Liz Wren, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.
On March 2, 2009, volunteers saved about fifty of the 200 pilot whales (dolphins) and bottle-nosed dolphins that beached on King Island north of Tasmania beginning on March 1, 2009. An unusual series of strandings has occurred since early Nov. 2008, when 60 pilot whales were stranded not far from King Island; on Nov. 29, 2008, 150 pilot whales and dolphins stranded and all died near King Island; in January 2009, 50 sperm whales stranded and all died near King Island. Scientists are puzzled by the the unexplained series of cetacean beachings. Image courtesy Liz Wren, Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.

March 2, 2009

“One of the biggest mass beachings in Australia, 200 pilot whales came ashore on King Island on Sunday evening, March 1, only 54 of which are still alive. Among the whales are a number of dolphins, according to Chris Arthur, from Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife. Around 150 local people are helping parks officials in trying to refloat the whales from a Naracoopa beach and shepherd them back to sea, where a large number of whales were still milling in a pod.”

March 6, 2009  Newport, Oregon - Scientists who study whales and dolphins are puzzled about repeated strandings of large numbers of pilot whales – which are actually large dolphins – and other dolphins and sperm whales on or around King Island north of the Australian state, Tasmania. There was also highly strange – perhaps unprecedented behavior – in Manila Bay, Philippines, last month on February 10, 2009, when 500 melon-headed dolphins filled Manila Bay and swam back and forth as if completely disoriented.

 

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