Watch CBS News

Dolphin Strandings On Cape Higher Than Usual

BOSTON (CBS) - Dolphins are stranding themselves in record numbers on the Cape and researchers don't know why.

Six beached themselves in Wellfleet Thursday.

One died and another couldn't be reached.

"We're focusing on four live dolphins and pulling them out of the mud flats and bringing them out to a transport trailer and the aim is to be able to release those dolphins later on up in Provincetown to open water," Mike Booth of the International Fund For Animal Welfaretold WBZ NewsRadio 1030.

Dolphins
Volunteers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare prepare to release five dolphins into the ocean at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, Massachusetts. (Photo by David G. Curran)

"Cape Cod is a world hot spot for dolphin strandings," he said, because of the weather and geography.

But in the last week, Booth said they've seen "an unusually high number" of strandings along 25 miles of coastline.

"In these last few days we've been basically responding to the stranding of close to 90 or 100 dolphins already," Both said.

They typically deal with a few hundred in a whole calendar year.

Why so many this month?

"We're not entirely sure," Booth said.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.