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.

A rare whale recently died after mysteriously attempting to strand itself on a beach in New Zealand. Locals noticed the animal — a strap-toothed whale — swimming “erratically” near East Clive Beach, located on the east coast of the North Island, according to Hawke’s Bay Today, a local newspaper.

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,