Suicidal stranding may stay a mystery

The reason behind long-finned pilot whales stranding themselves in Bunbury Harbour on Monday might never be known.

In a day-long rescue mission overseen by the Department of Parks and Wildlife, more than 30 volunteers frantically tried to save some of the whales from a pod that swam into breakwater wall rocks at McKenna Point, at the harbour's entrance.

After the final four stranded whales were guided back out to sea late Monday afternoon, the death tally rose to 13 on Tuesday when authorities pulled one whale back to shore following reports that three tiger sharks were feeding on the carcass.

A DPaW spokeswoman said a sweep of the area by a spotter plane on Tuesday reported no more sightings of the pod.

Samples were taken from the whales that did not survive and sent to Murdoch University for testing.

Professor Lars Bejder, of the Murdoch University Cetacean Research Unit, said it could be some time before they had answers, if any.

"The important thing is that we got the whale samples when they were fresh and in a timely manner," he said.

"But it's too hard to speculate why the animals did this - they appeared to be all in good health with nothing visually wrong."

Professor Bejder said the animals were notorious for beaching themselves.

"Once a pilot whale comes into shallow water, it can become quite confused, which could have contributed to the situation," he said.

DPaW records show West Australia's largest stranding was in 1996, when 320 long-finned pilot whales beached themselves at Dunsborough.

Professor Bejder said it was likely the stranding would not be the last time such a situation happened.

"As long as it's not human-induced, there isn't much that can be done to prevent this kind of thing happening again," he said.

DPaW nature conservation leader Kim Williams praised the efforts of everyone involved in Monday's rescue.

"With operations like these we really need our communities and volunteers to help us out and the response was amazing," said Mr Williams.

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