Rescuers save 11 dolphins stranded off of Cape Cod
BREWSTER - Fourteen bottlenose dolphins were stranded at Linnell Landing in Brewster on Monday afternoon.
Dolphins stranded twice
Marine rescuers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said this is the largest bottlenose dolphin mass stranding seen in the Northeast. When rescuers arrived, three of the dolphins were dead, but efforts to save the remaining 11 continued in to Tuesday morning.
"Upon arrival, 11 dolphins were still alive, and the team immediately began preparing to refloat them with the changing tide," said Kira Kasper, biologist and animal responder at IFAW. "In just the last two weeks, we have responded to 26 dolphin strandings, both common and bottlenose, so we have been on high alert and monitoring their movements closely."
The dolphins rescued Monday were tagged, with one dolphin receiving a satellite tag to track its movements. Tuesday morning, the satellite tag alerted responders that the same group of dolphins was stranded again - this time off the coast of Wellfleet.
The dolphins were stuck in the mud and could not be released from where they were stranded. The dolphins had to be transported to Herring Cove in Provincetown and released into the ocean.
Cape Cod dangerous for marine mammals
Cape Cod is a common location for marine mammal strandings, the organization said. Due to shallow waters, complex tidal movements and sandbars, animals like dolphins often become disoriented and large groups become stranded.
Kasper said IFAW has responded to 175 live stranded dolphins since the end of June, which is 2½ times the group's average.