Rescuers have managed to return to the ocean 32 beached pilot whales that survived a mass stranding of their 230 strong pod on Tasmania’s West Coast.
The 32 of the 35 surviving whales were refloated on Thursday in what rescuers described as a “terrific result.”
Most of the 230 pilot whales died after becoming stranded on Ocean Beach near Macquarie Harbour, south of Strahan, on Wednesday.
Of the 32 whales that were refloated on Thursday, two had to be rescued a second time because they became stranded again.
The final three surviving whales will be refloated on Friday.
“Because of access restrictions … we just haven’t been able to access those three animals safely today, but they’ll be our priority in the morning,” incident controller Brendon Clark told reporters on Thursday afternoon….