Biologist says whales could suffer fatal organ failure, even after being put back to sea, after Albany tragedy

The organs of the whales stranded near Albany are being crushed under their own body weight and the majestic creatures could suffer fatal organ failure even after being put back out to sea. Volunteers and experts are desperately trying to save a pod of whales that beached on Cheynes Beach on Tuesday. It is believed 97 whales were beached, with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions revealing on Wednesday morning that 51 of them had died. Murdoch University senior research fellow and marine biologist Dr Joshua Smith said in response the tragic sights that time was “running out” for the whales still alive. “It is critical they get back out to sea within 24 hours although within 12 hours is optimal,” Dr Smith said. “Whales evolved to live in the water, they are massive animals, with long-finned pilot whales weighing up to 2.5 tonnes each, and without buoyancy, basically their internal organs are being crushed. Even if you get them back out, they may still suffer internal organ failure and die.” Dr Smith was it was “possible” but “difficult” to save the whales at this point. “They have evolved to have a lot of air space within their bodies to be buoyant. As soon as they get on land, gravity takes over and it puts their organs under pressure,” he said. Dr Smith said experts did not understand why whales get stranded even though it seems to becoming more common. “It’s unclear as to what triggers such events, but there are several theories,” Dr Smith said. “We do know that whales can come unstuck on long, gradual, sloping seabeds where a navigational error suddenly puts them in shallow water. “Pilot whales strand more than any other whale species. But their huddling together was a very rare, unusual behaviour before the stranding event.” Dr Smith explained that pilot whales were extremely social animals and were “tightly knit”. He said this meant there was a risk of “re-beaching” as whales put out to sea, returned to others still on the beach. “They often move in familial groups and try to stick together and help each other out if something is wrong - they tend not to leave individuals to their own fate, so one theory is that they may have been protecting a sick individual,” Dr Smith said. “Or it could have been protectionist behaviour with the whales sheltering from a predator, namely orca. Although we can’t rule it out, I would have expected there to have been reports of orca sightings in the area if that was the case.” Yet another theory scientists are considering is that the huddling and then stranding was a response to sonar noises from deep water vessels. “But being where these whales were in shallow coastal waters, it would be highly unlikely those noises could have reached them,” Dr Smith said. The biologist said the theories scientists were working with came from “limited data” as most strandings occurred in remote areas and studies of carcasses were often unable to determine a cause of the beaching unless there was external damage to the whale’s body. Dr Smith said in the Cheynes Beach incident, the whales were practically on top of each other, and that this behaviour was very rare.