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Australian Officials Scramble to Save Stranded Whales

VOA News

   Australian wildlife rescue teams said Tuesday they were able to free at
   least 25 of about 270 pilot whales stranded in a remote area off the
   west coast of the Australian island of Tasmania and hoped to rescue
   more.

   The rescue operation, led by Australia's Parks and Wildlife Department,
   got underway early Tuesday after the whales were discovered stranded
   Monday on two sandbars in Macquarie Harbor, near the west coast town of
   Strahan, about 200 kilometers northwest of the Tasmanian state capital,
   Hobart.

   Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service Manager Nic Deka told reporters a
   third of the whales were likely to have died.

   The rescue effort involved more than 65 state park workers, fishermen
   and volunteers navigating icy waters and attaching the animals to
   slings and moving them out of the harbor and into deeper water using
   boats.

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