Good afternoon, Anthony Segaert with you for the rest of the afternoon.

You might’ve seen that sad news from Western Australia over the last few days about the almost 100 stranded whales that washed up on a beach.

Fifty-two whales died on the beach, and scientists had to euthanise 45 more on Wednesday night.

AAP reports that scientists are hoping to learn more about the whale’s genetics following the sad news:

Scientists hope to learn valuable information about whale genetics and behaviour after close to 100 animals perished in a stranding incident on a West Australian beach.

Fifty-two long-finned pilot whales initially died during a mass stranding event on Cheynes Beach, 60 kilometres east of Albany in the state’s south.

On Wednesday night wildlife authorities made the difficult decision to euthanise the surviving 45 after failed attempts to return them to deeper water.

Incident controller Peter Hartley said the 350 people involved in helping the animals, including about 250 volunteers, did everything they could.

“We know whale strandings are a natural phenomenon. But we gave it a good go,” Mr Hartley said.

“Spending the whole day in the water with those animals to give them the best opportunity.

“This is nature. It’s a natural phenomenon we know very little about.”

Mr Hartley said the decision to euthanise the remaining whales was probably one of the hardest in his 34 years in wildlife management.

He said a number of samples had been taken to check on the genetics of the animals, including whether they were all related.

Scientists from around the world had also been in contact to get access to the video of the stranding.

AAP