Sick whale 'led to beaching'

2005-06-03 08:10

Sydney - One sick whale that died may have been responsible for a mass stranding that left more than 100 of the giant creatures on two beaches south of Perth, Western Australia, an expert said on Friday.

All but one of the false killer whales stranded at Busselton on Thursday were shepherded back to sea and an autopsy revealed the whale was ill, the national ABC broadcaster reported.

It quoted the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM) as saying it had an unusually high number of gut parasites and abdominal bruising.

Wildlife officer Warwick Roe said it was possible the sick animal was the reason for the pod's stranding.

"It's a fairly well generally accepted possibility amongst the social whales, the ones that live in these large pods," he added.

"It's been sort of shown that a number of times where you've had animals come in in big numbers there's usually a sick one or three or whatever amongst them," he said. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA