8 dolphins die after washing ashore on New Jersey beach
Eight dolphins died after they were stranded on a New Jersey beach on Tuesday, an animal rescue and rehabilitation center said.
The pod of dolphins washed ashore near 50th and 52nd Street Beaches in Sea Isle City, located about 20 miles south of Atlantic City on the New Jersey coast, on Tuesday morning, officials said. Police officers and public works crew spent hours pouring seawater onto the dolphins in an effort to keep them alive, CBS Philadelphia reported.
Two of the dolphins had already died when workers with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center arrived at the scene.
"The remaining six dolphins were assessed by our veterinarian and their conditions were rapidly deteriorating," Marine Mammal Stranding Center posted on Facebook. "The decision was made to humanely euthanize the dolphins to prevent further suffering, as returning them to the ocean would have only prolonged their inevitable death."
All eight dolphins were taken to a lab where necropsies will be performed.
Their deaths came less than a week after two other dolphins — an adult and a calf — died after getting stranded near a different beach in New Jersey. The two dolphins were stranded on a sandbar in Sandy Hook Bay last Wednesday, Marine Mammal Stranding Center said. The adult had already died when rescuers arrived and the crew worked to secure the calf on a stretcher and lift the dolphin onto a nearby pier.
"After a veterinary exam it was determined that the young dolphin was in an extremely weakened condition and could not survive," Marine Mammal Stranding Center wrote on Facebook. "The decision was made to humanely euthanize the animal to prevent any further suffering."
The dolphins' deaths come after at least nine whales have died on the shores of New Jersey and New York since December 2022.