Stranded whale put down on Aussie beach

A rare beaked whale that became stranded on an Australian beachfront had to be put to down on Friday after authorities found it too weak to survive at sea.

The decision to put down the whale was made a day after the 3.75-metre deep-sea mammal was found stranded on a beach near New South Wales on Thursday afternoon by surfers, local media reports.

A team of rescuers who was involved in the rescue effort had tried to move the whale to a calmer beach to prepare it for release. However, several vets who accessed the weak mammal decided that the best option for it was to be put down instead of releasing it back.

Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia president Ronny Ling had described the beaked whale as "the rarest of all whales".

"There's several types of beaked whales, a lot of the time these are so hard to identify simply because they are so similar," said Ling.

"And they are so rare, we know so little about these animals."

Every year during this time, Australias eastern coastline are filled with these majestic mammals as the migration season begins with acrobatic displays of humpback whales migrating from north to mate and give birth between June and August, before returning to the Antarctic waters between September and November to hunt for krill during the southern hemisphere's summer. Endit