Animal group says group of dolphins in Wellfleet have moved offshore
The animal welfare organization that helped about 300 dolphins swim out of Wellfleet harbor Thursday said today those dolphins, tracked by satellite collars on a handful of the marine mammals, are far enough away from the harbor that they are not in immediate danger.
On Thursday, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and local harbor masters herded hundreds of dolphins out of the harbor, where they may have been in danger of stranding themselves.
The group, which rescued and released five stranded dolphins Thursday, said they are standing by, ready to take action if any more dolphins strand themselves in the coming days.
“I haven’t heard of any other [stranded] animals today,’’ Michael Booth, communications officer for IFAW, said. “Our teams are ready and on standby at high alert. We’re likely to see more dolphin strandings in the next few days.’’
According to IFAW’s website, dolphins spend most of their lives in deep water and, “when they venture into nearshore coastal waters, they can be caught high and dry when the tide recedes.’’ Low tide in Wellfleet today is at 3:08 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
The group said seven dolphins stranded themselves Thursday afternoon, and the group treated five of them. One dolphin died shortly after stranding itself and another died because it was inaccessible.
The five dolphins the group was able to rescue were taken to the group’s trailer, where five staff members and 20 volunteers evaluated the health of the animals.
“We run a lot of tests,’’ Booth said Thursday. “We draw blood from these dolphins, we do an auditory examination to make sure their hearing is fine, take measurements. … we note down everything.’’
Before releasing the dolphins into the ocean at Herring Cove in Provincetown, members of the group placed a tracking device on one of the dolphins, he said.
Though strandings are historically common, Booth said a remarkably large number of dolphins have already stranded on the Cape this year.
“The number of total dolphins that have stranded is up to around 90,’’ he said Thursday. “Of those, we have seen around 35 of them stranding alive, and now with these new five dolphins, we’ve successfully released 24.’’
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