Cape Police go on killing spree, kill 44 in a few hours

SHOOT: Seems to me they could have taken one whale to Simon's Town, released it there and checked the results. All it would have taken is a good, strong bakkie. If that worked they could have potentially saved a lot of them.

A few reasons have been given for why these strandings happen - for example that ship's radar interfere with navigation in these animals' brains. Or it could be suicide.
http://www.irishdolphins.com/WEBPILOT/LIST/Details.asp?contentid=60&l=10

clipped from news.yahoo.com Police had to put down 44 of the exhausted false killer whales to end their suffering, prompting scuffles with distraught locals desperate to save them. The rest died of stress and organ failure and the bodies of three whales who were initially thought to have escaped washed up overnight. Nan Rice of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group said the decision to euthanize the whales was only taken after it became clear the animals would not be able to survive the night on the beach. "They were weakening already. The animals wouldn't have been able to swim out," she told the South African Press Association. "The fact of the matter is that during the night, you probably would have people coming out of the bush to cut big chunks out of them. And we couldn't have people posted there all night because of the weather." She rejected public criticism of the decision to kill the beasts and the lack of contingency plans to cope with the mass beaching.