Mass beaching of whales in Western Australia

“There are different reasons, especially in this species, the long-finned pilot whales, so sometimes it could be that one member of the group is sick and the others follow suit. Sometimes there may be some form of noise pollution. Illness can be a factor, so it is very varied. We are taking a number of samples, especially the priorities to rule out infectious diseases.” “So we have ships on the water and we also have a reconnaissance plane in the air doing surveys every few hours to see where they are. And so far, so good. They haven’t returned to shore yet. But we will continue to monitor them.”