Rescuers use special vehicle to save 8 dolphins stranded on Cape Cod beach, agency says

A pod of dolphins stranded on the Massachusetts shoreline was rescued and released on Sunday, Nov. 20, according to a nonprofit agency.

The animals were seen in the morning off the coast of Cape Cod, the state’s distinctive, hook-shaped peninsula, following a report of over a dozen dolphins “circling close to shore,” according to a news release from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a global nonprofit.

“[O]ur teams were able to get on the road and quickly respond before the dolphins were further in trouble,” Nicole Hunter, IFAW’s assistant coordinator to the marine mammal rescue team, said in the release.

Roughly two hours later, as the tide went out, eight of the dolphins became stranded on a muddy patch of tidal marsh, according to the release and accompanying photos.

The marine mammals were then extracted by an IFAW team who placed them onto a custom-built “mobile dolphin rescue unit,” which is “capable of supporting up to nine marine mammals en route to deeper waters for safe release,” according to the release.

The dolphins were treated to combat the effects of trauma caused by the stranding, which “probably feels like a car accident,” according to the release, and were eventually released back into the ocean in the afternoon.

However one of the animals was euthanized on account of its deteriorating condition, the agency said.

Cape Cod is known as a global stranding spot for marine mammals due to its unique geography, according to the IFAW.

The strandings, which used to occur seasonally, are now a yearlong occurrence, according to The Provincetown Independent, though the stranding survival rate has substantially increased in recent years.

Marine mammal strandings have been reported in increased numbers across the globe, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Injury, entanglement in fishing gear, disease, starvation and abnormal weather or oceanographic events can lead to strandings, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This story was originally published November 21, 2022 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Rescuers use special vehicle to save 8 dolphins stranded on Cape Cod beach, agency says."