Over 100 beached whales rescued in western Australia after mass stranding

Hundreds of locals and marine wildlife experts gathered at the shores of Dunsborough, Australia on Thursday in an attempt to rescue roughly 140 beached pilot whales. Pilot whales are very social creatures and tend to follow one another when one finds itself stranded, according to the University of Western Australia. However, scientists on the scene believe there is more to the mass beaching at Geographe Bay. Fauna Holly Raudino, a senior marine research scientist at Western Australia's Parks and Wildlife Service, said there could be a variety of causes for this, but that the priority was to gather samples to help rule out potentially infectious diseases that may have triggered the event. This, however, isn’t a one-off experience for Dunsborough. In 1996, 320 pilot whales managed to beach themselves, marking the state’s largest whale stranding to date. At least 26 of the beached whales died on Thursday, according to whale conservation group Geographe Marine Research. For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB #GlobalNews #Whale #Australia