In this short video, produced by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW Marine Mammal Rescue and Research team staff and volunteers help as many dolphins as possible during one of the largest common dolphin stranding events on record. For more info, visit http://ifaw.org

Amazing Marine Mammal and Rescue Team efforts – Winter 2012

Two common dolphins recently rescued and released in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA, during the largest dolphin stranding on record in the Northeast U.S., in early 2012. A satellite tag can be seen on the dorsal fin of the dolphin in the background. c. 2012 IFAWBy Katie Moore
9 February 2012 Since my last blog post, dolphins have continued to strand daily on Cape Cod. In the midst of the rescue efforts, we held a Congressional briefing about the strandings on Capitol Hill and we have spoken with countless media outlets about this unprecedented mass stranding event. Thanks to Fred for posting an update yesterday on the total numbers of animals involved in this ongoing stranding. Tuesday, February 7, 2012 was the 27th consecutive day of strandings, as we found another 14 dolphins dead on the beaches. This brings the total animals involved in this event to: Total number of animals stranded – 152 Total number of live animals – 55 Total number released successfully – 38 While this event is tragic, we are proud of the survival rate of the dolphins found alive so far. Thanks to the hard work of the entire Marine Mammal Rescue and Research (MMRR) team, of the 54 dolphins found alive, 37 were released back into the ocean. […]

Dolphin Update: Rescue and Research team continues to find stranded animals

Two of the common dolphins rescued in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA, during the largest dolphin stranding on record in the Northeast U.S., 1 February 2012. IFAWBy Katie Moore
2 February 2012 This has been an exceptional stranding season for us – having already responded to 102 dolphins since January 12th . The first day of February brought even more dolphins to Cape Cod’s shores. Yesterday morning we got a call reporting that 6 dolphins were about to strand in the bay in Brewster.
 
When we arrived at the beach about a half hour later, we found the 6 lying on a sand bank about three quarters of a mile from the beach and 3 more trapped in very shallow water bringing the total number of dolphins needing rescue to 9. With the help of trained volunteers, we extricated the dolphins from the sand flats and safely transferred them from the beach to our rescue trailers where we checked the health of the animals to see if we would be able to attempt release.
 
All nine animals looked good and we made a plan to release them out to open waters on the outer Cape. Based on the winds and tides, we decided that Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro would be the ideal location to give these animals the best chance of survival. At about 6:15 pm, we were finally able to get all of  these wayward dolphins back in the water where they belong. We satellite tagged one of the animals and it seems to be moving very well. The tag transmitted at 8:47 am today and was 10 miles off shore on the Wellfleet/Truro border on the ocean side.
 
This tells us that it swam straight off the beach after release, which is a very good sign. Yesterday’s stranding brings the total to 111 Common dolphins that have stranded since January 12th with 30 of those being successfully released due to the tireless efforts of the entire International Fund for Animal Welfare Marine Mammal Rescue and Research staff and volunteers.
 
This has been the largest stranding of a single species on record in the Northeast Region of the U.S., as such, I’m heading down to Washington D.C. right now to testify before the US House Natural Resources Sub-committee to both brief them on what we know and also to ask for help.

Rescue team’s Katie Moore to brief Congress in wake of unprecedented dolphin strandings