Some fourteen sperm whales have died in a mass stranding on a beach in west Tasmania, Australia. The whale carcasses were discovered by locals on King Island and reported to authorities on Monday afternoon.
Rescuers were trying to refloat hundreds of whales stranded on a sandbar off the remote west coast of the Australian island of Tasmania on Tuesday, hoping to end one of the country’s worst beaching events.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, known as CCAMLR, began this week its annual meeting in Hobart, Tasmania. The 25-member organization - which was established with the objective of conserving Antarctic marine life - has been at a seven-year stalemate which has held up the designation of a marine protected area in East Antarctica.
Australian Wildlife officials are investigating a suspected dog attack in Tasmania, after 58 penguins were found mauled to death. A member of the public alerted rangers to the dozens of penguin bodies strewn across a beach on the north coast of Australia's island state.
Two Australian farmers from Tasmania have found what they hope to prove is the world's woolliest sheep. Peter Hazell said he had no trouble capturing the animal, which was wandering with its vision obscured by wool in scrubland on his property in Tasmania's Midlands on Sunday.
Governments meeting in Australia have failed to reach agreement on new marine protected areas for the Antarctic Ocean. A decision has been deferred until July 2013 when all the relevant science will be considered.