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Five whales die after rare beaching off Italy
Five sperm whales have died after nine beached themselves off Italys' southern coast in a highly unusual event in Mediterranean waters. The whales, measuring up to 10 metres long, were found stranded off the coast of Puglia, four were already dead and another died later.
Two of the nine whales initially beached managed to escape into deeper waters. Sadly at the time of adding this information to the charity's website, there were plans in place to euthanise two of the remaining whales as there was no hope in saving them.
A massive beaching such as this is extremely rare in the Mediterranean. The whales were scattered along a six km of beach and scientists from the Centro Studi Cetacei (the Natural History Museum of Milan) and the Italian universities of Bari, Padua, Pavia and Siena amongst others, are on site to coordinate operations and scientific analyses.
Necropsies will hopefully help determine what caused the animals to strand; updates to follow.
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