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Subscribe to RSSStaff and volunteers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Marine Mammal Rescue and Research team try to rescue and release stranded dolphins on Cape Cod. Msnbc.com's David Friedman reports.
Marine wildlife experts are at a loss to explain this winter’s unprecedented mass stranding of dolphins on the shores of Massachusetts' Cape Cod.
Volunteers on Tuesday helped refloat 10 more dolphins that were found in a muddy area commonly known as “the gut,” near the Herring River in the town of Wellfleet. An 11th dolphin died. On Monday, volunteers had rescued three other dolphins in the same vicinity, cared for them for several hours and successfully released them back into open water in Bourne, 52 miles away, an effort chronicled in the video above.
Those releases bring to 177 the total number of dolphins that have been stranded since Jan. 12, said Kerry Branon of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which is helping with the rescue effort. More than 100 have died.
Strandings during this time of year are not unusual on the shores of Cape Cod. But the magnitude of this season’s strandings is unprecedented, wildlife officials say.
Misty Niemeyer, of IFAW's Marine Mammal Rescue and Research team, says of this winter's spate of strandings, “our staff’s getting a little tired and little weary, and unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down at any point. We’ve had live animal strandings almost every day for the last week at least, and almost every day, or every other day, for the last month. So there really isn’t any sign of it slowing down yet.”
Branon, for her part, said that it’s the largest dolphin stranding in the Northeast, going by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records, which date back about 20 years.
She said her organization could find no explanation for this year’s rise in mass strandings.
The race is on to save a record number of dolphins stranded on the shore. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
“We’re not ruling anything out. What we typically find is the animals that strand here strand for natural reasons,” she told msnbc.com.
Branon noted that dolphins are social animals, “and they stick together for better or for worse.”
“So far no patterns have emerged, but the many lab analyses will take months to complete, we may yet find one,” Katie Moore, manager of IFAW’s marine mammal rescue and research team, said in a recent blog post.
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sorry charlie.....
Use of Sonar is killing Marine Mammals (Whales. Dolphins).
These Mammals rely on their own sonar (with sensitive hearing) to hunt for food.
When any ship or sub uses sonar near Marine Mammals, it deafens them (they lose their preying ability), and they beach themselves!
Not a good record for Humans!
"COREXIT" that they used to hide the oil spill has poisoned them. Bet you won't here that from the press, they're all bought by BP
I hope they can save as many as possible. I am wondering why it is so many this year? Is there an expert out there?
You people are all retarded. It's fairly simple. It has to do with the military & sonar. It's a proven fact it messes up their navigation skills, which are much, much more complicated than ours. Ask New Zealand. They had a mass whale stranding and are blaming a US Submarine. Whatever, what do I know? I live in Colorado and ski for living. I do log about 50 dives a year though and I know a bunch of marine biologists. They are convinced it's sonar.
in 2001, the north magnetic pole was located on Northern Canada's Ellesmere Island. SInce then, it has moved about 350 miles north - toward Siberia.
There are many animals that migrate and many of them have a small piece of a mineral (similar to lodestone but organically grown) embedded (generally) in their foreheads. That is true of some fish, some birds, dolphins, some insects, pilot whales, etc...
When the magnetic pole moves, the migratory patterns of these animals shift accordingly. Unfortunately, when this happens, they sometimes find obstacles in their paths - like Cape Cod.
The sad truth is that magnetic shifts occur much faster than these animals can genetically adapt. Also unfortunately, that's why animals become extinct. Large dinosaurs couldn't fly. Now they're dead. Those that COULD fly, if they were too big - now they're dead. The rest became birds.
Same thing is going to happen to the humanoid nitwits who make fun of the dolphins. In their case, probably sooner than later.
a Navy ( likely ours ) has been running their special high-frequency radar
I would bet the farm.
Thanks to all doing their best to try and save these wonderful creatures. I've swam with dolphins down at Cocoa Beach FL. It was great. Something I will never forget. Hope a reason is found soon for why they are stranding themselves.