Sad news today, 150 pilot whales died after being stranded off Tasmania's west coast.  The numbers nearly doubled from what it was believed to be yesterday.

The whales were discovered Saturday, on a rocky area of coastline of Sandy Cape.  Members of the local community and about six Department of Primary Industry and Water members worked in vain to try to save the stranded animals, that had been badly injured by the rocks.

Warwick Brennan, a department spokesman said that the whales' chances of survival were much less in that sort of environment than if the had come ashore in a sandy area.

There were about thirty whales milling around not too far from the stranded whales that had to be shephered out to sea to prevent them from also meeting the same fate.

According to this article and Brennan, this is becoming a more common occurance in the area, with stranded whales appearing almost every twelve days.  It is believed that the whales get in to this sort of danger when persuing prey into shallow waters.