Australians Tow 21 Beached Whales to Safety at Sea

Fishing trawlers led 21 stranded whales to safety Wednesday after hundreds of people worked for 48 hours to keep the stricken mammals alive.

“The last I heard, the whales were two miles out and heading in a south-southeasterly direction toward New Zealand,” said Michael Duffy, a spokesman fo the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

After the herd of more than 60 Tasmanian whales beached themselves more than 200 miles north of Sydney on Tuesday, the tiny town of Crowdy Heads Beach (population 400), turned out in strength to help wildlife rangers save as many as possible.

Even schoolchildren pitched in, dousing the whales with buckets of water to keep them alive.

Half the whales perished immediately on the beach and others died of exhaustion after thrashing in the surf.

“We did everything we could,” said volunteer Fred Donnelly.

Then 22 whales were transported by trucks to a nearby harbor for the attempt to tow them out to sea.

Fishermen ringed the harbor entrance with nets to prevent the whales from escaping overnight. Then at dawn Wednesday, three of the whales were harnessed to fishing trawlers and towed gently out of the harbor and set free. Fishermen then released the nets from the harbor mouth and the others followed. One died.