A pygmy sperm whale and four dolphins washed up recently on the South Carolina coast, with all animals found apart and ranging from North Litchfield Beach to Bull's Bay off Awendaw.

According to the results of a necropsy carried out on the whale, it had a heart condition and liver trouble and although no results were available on the dolphins, they were found to carry startling amounts of man-made pollutants as well as natural viruses. Strandings of pygmy sperm whale are not hugely uncommon in the area with as many as four or five per year.