Eight dolphins over a three day period stranded themselves around Cape Cod, New England. The strandings occured between 17-19 July. A large crowd gathered far out on the flats to catch a rare glimpse of the animals, some of the stronger men and women, assisted marine biologists in trying to lift the animals, which each weighed more than 400 pounds.

"Everyone was so respectful," said Katelyn Merrill from the Eastham Natural Resources Office. "We are not used to the animals stranding in the summer; it's usually in the winter. So we had to deal with crowd control as well as saving the animals. But people were great."

Two white-sided common dolphins were first and were released off Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown. A day later, five more white-sided dolphins stranded - two juveniles and three adults - again, all dolphins were successfully rescued and released. However,another dolphin was found dead near Campground Beach the next day but by the time the animal was discovered it was too late to save the mammal, which was from the same pod as the previous strandings.

The Cape Cod Stranding Network who rescue marine mammals said that since January 1 of this year, 174 strandings have been reported on the Cape.

Image: Merrily Lunsford