On Monday afternoon, seven false killer whales were found stranded on House Beach. This sad accident happened nearly 12 miles (20 kilometers) east of Bremer Bay. Local wildlife officials are taking immediate action to respond to the stranding. Sadly, four of the whales have since died since rescuers found them. These animals are now the subject of ongoing rescue efforts and investigations to determine what caused the stranding.
Jeremy Friend, district manager with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), provided a briefing on the emerging situation. His perspective really provided needed context for where things stand. As of Tuesday morning local time, Mr. Barlow said on Twitter that three of the beached whales were successfully re-floated around 1 PM on Tuesday. Note that the subsequent rescue efforts have faced a number of barriers. One of the refloated whales stranded itself again soon after and may need to be euthanized.
Response Efforts Underway
A specialized 13-member team of Texas Parks and Wildlife officers quickly mobilized following the stranding event. They are doing everything they can to help treat the lost and homeless pets. Mark McCormack, another response-team member, provided this snapshot of conditions when they landed.
“When we arrived, we came down to the beach … just saw seven whales stranded, which was pretty confronting and bleak from first look,” – Mark McCormack
The team performed a fast triage evaluation to decide which whales were able to be assisted. McCormack noted that from one whale to the next there were varying degrees of condition. Unfortunately, two of them passed away within only a few hours of being found.
“They were stranded, all still moving around, some in better condition than others … within an hour or two one or two died,” – Mark McCormack
Even with their skill, out of every 30 refloating attempts, only 1 succeeded. The first two whales that they were successfully able to release, although they returned to the beach shortly thereafter.
“We managed to get two of the smaller ones back into the water but they came back into shore,” – Mark McCormack
Investigating Causes of Stranding
Marine biologist Piak Markovic gave a timely presentation on how climate change is influencing these strandings. Still, Johnson noted that false killer whale strandings are common when compared to other whale species. He raised the possibility that a disoriented or sick leader in the caravan may have diverted the rest onto the rocky beach.
“One of the leaders, usually a female as they’re a matriarchal society, may have gotten a bit sick … because their social structures are so well bonded, the rest may have followed her,” – Piak Markovic
Markovic further admitted this was a complicated thing to try to get our heads around. He noted that although scientists have studied many potential causes of whale strandings, clear conclusions are still out of reach.
“There’s a lot of research that goes into why this may occur but we don’t have any answers,” – Piak Markovic
The response team has been using drones to conduct aerial surveillance of the area. They have had little luck finding other indications of marine life in peril in the vicinity.
Ongoing Concerns and Future Steps
Homeland Security Secretary Jeremy Friend promised West Virginians that personnel would remain at the site for as long as necessary. During this period, they will closely monitor the remaining whales.
“We will keep staff there as late as we can this afternoon as we know two of those whales are close to shore,” – Jeremy Friend
This event has been echoed in past mass strandings. The most dramatic example in recent times came earlier this month in Tasmania, where about 150 whales stranded and most had to be euthanized. These kinds of egregious actions continue to show the uphill fight marine wildlife and defenders of conservation continue to struggle against.
