Australia Pilot Whales' Beaching: 45 pilot whales euthanised after re-stranding at Cheynes beach

Australia Pilot Whales' Beaching: 45 pilot whales euthanised after re-stranding at Cheynes beach

The last of nearly 100 pilot whales that had stranded themselves on a beach in Western Australia have been eventually euthanized after multiple attempts to rescue them failed.

The long-finned whales had beached themselves on Tuesday on the Cheynes Beach, south of the capital Perth.

Australia had announced yesterday that 51 of the whales had already died.

Eventually, the remaining 45 had to be put down after efforts to lead them deeper into the water failed, said the Western Australia Parks and Wildlife Service in a statement.

Officials said that they were forced to make the "difficult decision" to "avoid prolonged suffering.

More than 250 volunteers and a team comprising marine life experts had joined a rescue mission to try and coax the remaining 45 whales to the ocean.

But the Parks and Wildlife Service of Western Australia said that the surviving whales later re-stranded themselves, with experts concluding that euthanizing them was the best option to “avoid prolonging their suffering”.

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