Rescuers race to save pilot whales stranded on Eastham beach

EASTHAM - Animal welfare workers raced to save five pilot whales stranded on a beach in Eastham on Tuesday.

A sixth whale, a calf, has died.

The whales were initially spotted swimming north of Sunken Meadow close to shore on Monday night, and found on the sand Tuesday morning.  

Rescuers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare covered the whales in blankets and were caring for them with IV fluids. 

As high tide arrived later in the afternoon, the rescuers carefully helped the whales back into the water on floats. The harbormaster then pulled them out to sea.

"These are dolphin stretchers we call them," stranding coordinator Misty Neimeyer said. "They're specially designed to move these animals on the beach. So we pull them, put them in place, roll the animal carefully. It sounds easy, but you can see that it's not easy. It takes a lot of work with our trained responders so that we can move those animals."

IFAW director of marine mammal rescue and research Brian Sharp said it's a challenging mission due to the size of the animals.. 

"The largest animal we estimate is almost 4,000 pounds - almost two tons," Sharp said.

The float was sent into the water with one of the whales on it so it could serve as the lead animal. The hope was the other pilot whales would follow, but at first they didn't.

Crews stood in shallow water using rakes and other objects to slap the water. After about a half hour, the other whales followed the lead animal out to sea.

The harbormaster followed them with a boat to make sure they get where they are supposed to be.

IFAW says it has responded to nearly 6,000 marine mammal strandings on the Cape since 1998.