(Photo by Handout / Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by HANDOUT/Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania/AFP via Getty Images)] Department of Natural Resources and Environment liaison officer Brendon Clark said the inaccessibility of the beach, ocean conditions and challenges to getting specialist equipment to the remote area were complicating a response.
(Photo by Handout / Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by HANDOUT/Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania/AFP via Getty Images)] The whales were found on Tuesday afternoon by resident Jocelyn Flint’s son, who discovered the stranded whales around midnight while fishing for sharks.
A pod of 157 dolphins was found stranded on a remote beach in Australia's southern island of Tasmania, environment officials said as veterinarians raced to the scene.
They appeared to be members of a large dolphin species known as false killer whales, Tasmania's environment department said, named for the orca-like shape of their skull.
He said the stranding was the first by false killer whales in Tasmania since 1974 when a pod of more than 160 whales landed on a beach near Stanley on the northwest coast.
