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A MASS STRANDING of 77 pilot whales has resulted in all of the animal’s deaths off the coast of Sanday, in Orkney, Scotland.
Marine wildlife experts and the British Divers and Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were attempting to save 12 of the stranded whales, but all were euthanased this evening due to their conditions deteriorating.
The shock discovery was made at around 10.30am today. A BDMLR team were mobilised while a small number of medics made their way to the scene.
It is believed that the 77 animals could’ve been stranded for hours before the first sighting. Just 12 of the short-finned pilot whales, commonly found off the coast of Ireland and Great Britain, were still alive by the time first responders arrived.
There is currently no known reason why the mass-stranding event happened.
“Pilot whales are incredibly sociable and so its possible that one of them stranded and the rest followed. It’s the largest one in a long time,” Molly Brown, who works for BDMLR, said.
“We did have a mass stranding of 55 around this time last year on the Isle of Lewis,” she added.
The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme will attempt to recover as many bodies as possible for post-mortem sampling and examination to try to determine the circumstances of stranding, BDMLR said.
“We would like to thank all of our volunteer Marine Mammal Medics who attended this incident along with members of the local community for their efforts in these distressing circumstances,” they added.
Includes reporting by Press Association
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I hope the Dog is ok???.
I presume he was given a Tetanus shot after biting them $cum….
That’s what these dogs are trained to do in unruly situations. Protecting their handlers is a natural instinct and to do the job that they are trained to do.
I hope that the dog isn’t punished and put down or carted off to some unknown place and used as a ‘guard dog’ to patrol some dump!
‘ Atta Boy….good doggie. LOL .
Ruff day at the office
Bite first…. Ask questions later….!
Imagine what the poor staff are subjected to on occasions like that reported. Maybe they should all be issued with a police dog?
People in the south don’t know how lucky they are not having to deal with thousands of these marches every year. Fascist nutjobs and their pisshead hangers on cause chaos everywhere they go and everyone has to put up with it because it’s supposed to be traditional. These people are less than 10% of the population but they hold everyone else hostage. Total joke!
Flegs and marches and buckfast and drugs. Sure it’s their TRADITION!!!
‘Dog bites man’, not a story. ‘Man bites dog’, now that would be a story…
“Man bites dog” is a film…… dark dark film
Incidentally the media are not mentioning that yesterday was the ‘start’ of the marching season, so thousands of drunken loyalists were probably roaming the streets. And I love when they say the start of the season as if we ever get even a month’s break from the drivel.
Is the incident out on video yet ? Its always so disappointing when you see police dogs in action on TV and they aren’t allowed to bite the bum off a crim.
A snap decision, I presume!
The only real question is were those bitten taking part in the disorder or just caught up at the start and hadn’t time or opportunity to get away. If first then good, it’s not a news item. If the latter then possibly questions should be asked ref the control the handler had on his/her dog.
Be very surprised if they were innocent as generally muzzles don’t come off until its clear that innocents are cleat and dogs are kept close to the handler and a distance away.
II hope they sue the police for damages.
have your say