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Between 50 and 100 pilot whales have become stranded at a beach in our South West near Toby’s Inlet, north of Dunsborough.

A Parks and Wildlife team has been deployed to the incident and is urging the public to stay away.

“We know people want to help, but we asked that people please do not attempt to rescue the animals without direction of [our] staff as this may cause further injury, and distress to the animals and hinder a coordinated rescue effort,” the authority said.

Pam Kennedy is on holiday in the area from Perth and said it was a horribly sad scene.

“It’s a horrible sight to see them. There are masses and masses of volunteers there, and they would have saved probably 20 so far. They’ve pulled them out to sea as far as they can,” she said.

“I’ve been crying. The whales are talking to each other.”

It comes after around 50 pilot whales died off Cheynes Beach in Albany last year, despite desperate efforts by volunteers who braved the cold water for days as they tried unsuccessfully to usher the whales into deeper water.

WA’s largest mass stranding of whales in 1996 occurred at a beach close to where the whales are today. In that stranding, 320 pilot whales beached themselves, but thankfully 300 were able to be saved.

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