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.

Dozens of dolphins have died after a pod of more than 150 stranded on a remote beach in Australia's southern island of Tasmania, environment officials said Wednesday. A pod of 157 dolphins from a poorly understood deep-sea species was believed to have been stranded in the past 48 hours – with "approximately 90" still alive as of Wednesday morning.

SYDNEY -- 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, Australian authorities said on Thursday.