More whales beached in Australia

At Hamlin Bay, south of Perth, close to the tourist region of the Margaret River, up to 80 whales and dolphins have become stranded on a beach.

Officers from the Department of Environment and Conservation have gone to the area hoping to save the long finned pilot whales and bottlenose dolphins.

Media reports say that as many as 58 of the whales, and some dolphins, may have died already.

Reports of the beaching, near to the Hamelin Bay Caravan Park, came in early Monday morning around 7 am.

Greg Mair, a spokesman for the Department, said the whales were found over a long stretch of the coastline.

Government staff and local volunteers worked through the night to stabilize the survivors.

John Carter, operations officer of the Department said the whales, were all placed in pods in a safe area, and around 70 people kept them wet overnight.

He added that Department people and volunteers had persevered and co-operated to give the mammals the best opportunity to survive.

The whales are up to 20 feet long and weigh up to 3.5 tons.

They will be raised in slings on Tuesday and each one will go by truck overland to Flinders Bay, which has better protected deep water.

They will then be assisted to swim out to sea.

A few weeks ago, 200 whales and dolphins were stranded on a Tasmanian beach.

About 5 bottlenose dolphins and 54 whales were refloated from Maricopa Beach on King Island.

The rest died although desperate attempts to save them were made by local people and experts.

Such strandings occur from time to time in Tasmania when whales pass while migrating to and from the Antarctic, although scientists do not understand the reason.

The stranding of whales together with dolphins is uncommon, however.

However, strandings occur more often on the shores of southwestern Australia.

In 1986, only 30 survived from a pod of 57 whales stranded at Augusta.

In 2005, almost 100 whales were rescued when they became stranded on a beach in Busselton at Geographe Bay.

Stranded whales die of too much heat and dehydration.

The heavy weight of their bodies pressing on internal organs when they are not in the weightless environment of the sea can also harm them.