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.

The animals are part of a pod of 157 whales that beached near Arthur River, a township in Tasmania. What caused them to beach remains unclear.

More than 150 cetaceans have been stranded near the north-western tip of Tasmania, and the Marine Conservation Program thinks even those currently still alive are unlikely to be saved. The stranding occurred on a beach near Arthur River,