More than 30 dolphins washed up on shore on Bryan’s Beach on Tuesday.
More than 30 dolphins washed up on shore on Bryan’s Beach on Tuesday.
Chris Theobald has had many close encounters with wildlife around the world.

But the nature guide's latest interaction on Tasmania's east coast has left him devastated.

He along with two of his colleagues had travelled by boat to Bryans Beach, not far from the popular tourist destination of Wineglass Bay.

It was there they came across more than two dozen pilot whales lying in the shallows on Wednesday morning.

All of them were dead.

"It was pretty heart-wrenching," Mr Theobald said.


"The fact that there was just so many of this species right in front of me and I was walking [past] even small calves was pretty confronting."

Another tour operator, Rob Pennicott, said it was his son who first discovered the stranding after seeing one of the carcasses floating in the water on Tuesday.

"My son Noah sent me photos and reported it to Marine [and] Safety Tasmania because the first whale he saw was actually floating and was a hazard to shipping and boats," Mr Pennicott told ABC Radio Hobart.

"And then he saw on the beach the devastating [scene] of over 30 dead whales on the beach.

More than 30 dead pilot whales have been found on Tasmania's Freycinet Peninsula.
© Natural Resources and Environment Department TasmaniaMore than 30 dead pilot whales have been found on Tasmania's Freycinet Peninsula.
"And to me, it's very sad. I love dolphins and whales and seals."

Tasmania's Natural Resources and Environment Department said 34 carcasses had been found along the southern tip of the Freycinet Peninsula.

"Staff, including a wildlife veterinarian, are on site today to assess the situation and sample and measure the carcasses," a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Reason for mass stranding remains a mystery

Whale strandings are not uncommon in Tasmania.

In September last year, more than 200 pilot whales became beached near Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast.

The mass stranding occurred almost two years to the day after a separate event in the same area, when more than 400 whales became stranded.

Mr Theobald said he filmed and photographed the carcasses at Bryans Beach to highlight the scale of the latest incident.

"I just wanted to show the human interaction that we do have with animals and just show the scale of the phenomenon that happened out there."

While he acknowledged it was difficult to pinpoint the reason for whale strandings, he said he was concerned that human-related activity could be a contributing factor.

The department's spokesperson said: "It is not known why the whales stranded and is often not possible to determine."

They urged members of the public to keep their distance and report stranded whales or dolphins to the whale hotline on 0427 WHALES (0427 942 537).