Stranded Whales Die In Southern Australia

(AP)  A group of about 80 whales stranded on a remote coastline in southern Australia were battered to death on rocks before rescuers could reach them.

Officials from Tasmania state's Parks and Wildlife Service rushed Sunday in four-wheel-drive vehicles to the remote site at Sandy Cape after the long-finned pilot whales were spotted by air a day earlier.

A helicopter crew that arrived late Saturday found about a dozen of the whales injured but alive, but by the time the road crew arrived all of the group were dead, said Warwick Brennan, a spokesman for the service.

The coastline is strewn with reefs and jagged rocks, making it much more dangerous for the stranded whales than if they had landed at a sandy beach, said Rosemary Gales, another wildlife service official.

"Because of the physical beating they take from stranding on rocks and surf, compared to sandy beach strandings, animals die more quickly," said Gales.

About 15 whales that seemed to be part of the same pod began swimming away from the area after the last of the stranded whales died. The second group swam near those stranded and may have been responding to cries of distress, Brennan said.

The operation comes one week after rescuers saved 11 pilot whales among more than 60 stranded on a beach in northwestern Tasmania, which is an island.

Strandings are not uncommon in Tasmania, where the whales pass by on their migration to and from Antarctic waters. It is not known why whales get stranded.

[rf35]

Look at the dwindling polar bear population and tell me it''''s "nature" and not us!
Posted by Puzzler125

OK, it''s nature and not us.
The forecast methods used to "prove" the decline in populations were not scientifically sound. Polar bears occupy a very narrow niche. As the climate changes (with little to no help from human activity), the polar bear population will react.
Actually, the population is quite healthy for a large predator with a relatively small habitat range. At least 2 subpopulations are on the rise. Far from the picture being painted of hundreds of bears floating out to sea to drown when their ice melts too soon, the bears will evolve to spend more time on land. Those who don''t will die, removing themselves and their apparent distaste for land from the gene pool. The idea of polar bears spending more time on land is distressing to many humans, as contacts and conflicts are more likely. All I have to say to these people is %u201Cadapt and deal with it.%u201D I wonder who was living there first; the people or the polar bears?

[puzzler125]

Yes, sometimes it IS "nature taking its course" BUT since we have such a strongly negative effect on nature lately perhaps we did indeed cause this. Whenever we read about injuries and deaths to such beautiful animals it is a learning opportunity. Do you ever toss six-pack plastic rings overboard from your boat? Do you put dangerous to animals items in your garbage without securing it properly? These are smaller areas in which we can have an effect but there''s sometimes a snowball effect. Look at the dwindling polar bear population and tell me it''s "nature" and not us!

[downsteamjim]

Amount of data linking this to the U.S. Navy is zero. But that means nothing to those preaching here.

[Michael Arnold]

Blame the U.S. Navy and America''s freakishly paranoid citizen-thugs. They won''t be satisfied until they kill everyone and everything.

[hbevis]

Posted by HETUP at 10:33 AM : Nov 30, 2008

I believe that the safety of the UNITED STATES is more important that a Whale.. I have not read or heard of a single Whale that has been hurt or made deft by the
Sonar that the Navy uses.. It would make sense to me that if the Whales are going towards something that is hard on their hearing that they would leave the area.

You are trying to say that a few watts would work just as well as a much higher power. That is what Research and Development is all about. If the lower power would work then the Navy would be using less power.