29 beached pilot whales dead after mass stranding on Australian coast; more than 100 rescued

A mass stranding of long-finned pilot whales in southwestern Australia led to the deaths of 29 of the beached creatures on Thursday, officials said. Another 100 or so of the whales were rescued and redirected out to sea from Toby's Inlet, which is at the lower tip of Western Australia, about 150 miles from Perth, the state capital.

Images released Thursday by Western Australia's Parks and Wildlife Service showed a large group of pilot whales crowded together at the edge of the Toby's Inlet shoreline, where the ocean meets the land. Although many were still submerged in the very shallow water, several of the whales were fully beached.

Wildlife officers, marine scientists and veterinarians were deployed to the site. Just before noon, the parks and wildlife service reported that four pods of as many as 160 pilot whales were stranded in the water and spread across an area of roughly 1,600 feet, with 26 whales stranded on the beach itself.