Strandings/Rescue News

Pygmy whale dies
(Added: 01 May 2008)
A two-metre pygmy killer whale saved from beaching at Denial Bay South Australia has died. It was initially returned to deep waters but restranded the next day. The whale's body has been sent to Adelaide to enable staff at the Australian Museum to carry out an autopsy.

Killer whale carcass discovered on beach
(Added: 22 April 2008)
A carcass of a killer whale was recently found on a remote Scottish beach. The adult male, eight metres long was found on Sandwood Bay, Sutherland, the most north-westerly beach in the UK. Interestingly, in the past month large groups of killer whales have been seen off Scotland's northern coasts.

Mahia dolphin lends a helping fin
(Added: 12 March 2008)
The dolphin which has been frequenting an area around Mahia in New Zealand and has become known locally as Moko, appeared very interested in efforts being made to refloat two pygmy sperm whales on Monday 10 March.
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Unanswered questions in dolphin deaths
(Added: 06 March 2008)
Twenty bottlenose dolphins were found dead recently on beaches in Galveston and Jefferson counties, Texas, rekindling a mystery that may never be solved. Almost 70 dolphins washed up on Galveston County shores between February and March, 2007. Those dolphins were badly decomposed, hampering efforts to test tissue samples. Of those tested, the results were either inconclusive or showed no abnormalities, the dolphins found recently were also badly decomposed, so drawing conclusions from tissue samples could again prove difficult.

Despite efforts, stranded whale dies
(Added: 28 February 2008)
Despite round-the-clock care the pygmy sperm whale rescued recently in the Keys, Florida has died. For hours volunteers were in the water with the whale, trying to keep it calm, moist and covered from the sun until transportation arrived to take it to the rescue centre. During the rehabilitation effort, volunteers held the weak whale who was unable to swim on its own. Pygmy sperm whale’s are not easy mammals to save and not many have been, most end up dying.

Further beaked whale strandings
(Added: 15 February 2008)
Three Gray's Beaked whales died after becoming stranded at Taupo Bay,New Zealand. They were among a small pod of five. Rescuers managed to help two whales out to sea but two adult females and a juvenile died.

Beaked whale stranding
(Added: 31 January 2008)
A rare Gray's beaked whale recently washed up at Okiwi Bay, 25km north of Kaikoura, New Zealand. The animal had injuries around its head and dorsal fin, was alive when it washed ashore but died shortly after. The whale's stomach contained a large number of parasites which suggested the whale had been unwell. Further samples will be analysed and forwarded to the whale database at the Museum of New Zealand.

Mass dolphin stranding in Massachusetts
(Added: 28 January 2008)
On 15 January 2008, 17 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were found beached - 10 at Loagey Bay and 7 at the Herring River, Massachusetts.
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Pilot whale stranding in New Zealand
(Added: 23 January 2008)
15 pilot whales have died after stranding in southern New Zealand, many others were refloated. The whales were found beached at two locations on Farewell Spit and ranged from calves to 20-foot adults.
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Good news for stranded dolphin
(Added: 17 January 2008)
A common dolphin which stranded at a beach in Marazion on the South Cornwall coast yesterday (16 January), has been successfully released by colleagues from BDMLR.
Click here for further details and news update - 22 January

Cause of whale death unconfirmed
(Added: 10 January 2008)
A necropsy has been completed on a dead True's beaked whale that washed ashore early January on Beach Haven, Pennsylvania but there are no details as to what caused the mammal's death. There was no food in the stomach and the only injury was a broken vertebrate from the forklift picking it up. The animal was a male and its next stop is the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., for a more in-depth look at its tissues which will take up to six months and includes the studying of the whale's ear canals and brain for sonar damage. Different parts of the whale will be sent out to different specialists.

Dead humpback off Wales
(Added: 17 December 2007)
A post mortem examination will take place on a young humpback whale which was found off the coast of south Wales, Saturday 15 December. The whale, which was about 20 ft long was brought on to the shore at Aberavon after it was spotted floating in the harbour, the juvenile male had not been dead for long when it was recovered by the coastguard and lifeboat teams. Many fin, minke and long finned pilot whales have been known to strand in Wales, but not usually humpback whales.

Whale possibly killed by ship off Cornwall
(Added: 13 November 2007)
The body of a minke whale that washed ashore on the Roseland peninsular, south coast of Cornwall has been examined by volunteers from Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Strandings Network. The whale was first seen floating offshore several days before and was reported to have a large gash in its head. The animal was female.

Dead whale found off Iceland
(Added: 29 September 2007)
A dead bottlenose whale has been discovered on a beach in inner Njardvík on Reykjanes peninsula, southwest Iceland, It was seven metres long and therefore not quite fully grown. Bottlenose whales live in the waters around Iceland, but are rarely seen north of the island.

Trapped whale found dead
(Added: 27 September 2007)
A badly injured whale which became trapped in a sea loch off Lewis has died. The northern bottle-nosed whale became beached in Loch Roag, on the west of the Hebridean Island before managing to free itself. It later vanished and rescuers had hoped the animal had managed to find its way back to the open ocean, however it was later found dead. Scientists from the Scottish Agricultural College will carry out a post-mortem examination to shed any light on why a deep diving animal had made its way into shallow waters.

Learning from a whale’s death
(Added: 10 September 2007)
Marine biologists are eager to discover what killed a Cuvier's beaked whale that washed up recently on the Monterey Peninsula. It will also give them the opportunity to study this elusive species as strandings of this particular species are rare. There have been only two other Cuvier's beaked whales in more than 20 years to wash up on the Monterey Peninsula, and one that washed up in the Santa Cruz area. Not thought to be a migratory species, the Cuvier's is one of two beaked whale species known to navigate the waters off the Central Coast. The other is Baird's beaked whale, which is considerably larger and seen slightly more often.

Pygmy killer whale update
(Added: 17 August 2007)
Preliminary test results from the three pygmy killer whales that beached themselves recently off North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina show all three animals were very sick.
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Northern bottlenose whale stranding
(Added: 28 July 2007)
A Northern bottlenose that was sighted in the River Orwell, near Ipswich has been euthanised. The animal was approx 5 metres long. First sightings were reported on July 27 to the Coastguard in the area of the Orwell Bridge.
Click here for full report