Department liaison officer Brendon Clark said the stranding was the first by false killer whales in Tasmania in since 1974. That was a pod of more than 160 whales that landed on a beach near Stanley on the northwest coast. Strandings in Tasmania are usually pilot whales.

Marine experts have given up hope of rescuing 157 false killer whales that stranded on a remote Australian beach.

Dozens of false killer whales stranded on a remote beach in the Australian state of Tasmania will be euthanised after bad weather and the isolated location hampered efforts to push them back into the waters,