LONDON — A pod of 55 pilot whales have died after they were found washed ashore on a beach in Scotland in the worst mass whale stranding in the area, marine experts said Monday.
Marine rescuers, the coast guard and police were called to Traigh Mhor beach on the Isle of Lewis in northwest Scotland after receiving reports that dozens of the mammals were in difficulty there early Sunday.
The British Divers Marine Life Rescue found that only 15 of the whales — a mixture of adults and calves — were still alive, and attempted to refloat two of the more active animals that were low down in the water.
A pod of pilot whales stranded Sunday in North Tolsta, on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland.
But by Sunday afternoon rescue teams decided that the remaining whales should be euthanized on welfare grounds, after considering the shallow beach, rough wave conditions and how long the whales had been out of the water.
The charity said the whole pod may have followed a female whale onto the beach when she had problems giving birth.
“Pilot whales are notorious for their strong social bonds, so often when one whale gets into difficulty and strands, the rest follow,” it said in a statement. “A sad outcome for this pod and obviously not the outcome we were all hoping for.”
Experts will begin carrying out post-mortem work Monday to determine what caused the whales’ death.
Andrew Brownlow, from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, said that would be a “monumental task.”
Experts will begin carrying out post-mortem work Monday to determine what caused the deaths of 55 pilot whales found washed ashore on a beach in Scotland.
“In terms of the number of casualty animals, this is the biggest one we’ve had,” he told the BBC.
Experts will take samples and data from some of the whales, and the bodies will be taken to a landfill site and buried after the post-mortem is complete, he added.
Landmark law saved whales through marine industries change
A North Atlantic right whale surfaces on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, Monday, March 27, 2023. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
A female North Atlantic right whale rolls on her back, revealing her pectoral flippers, on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, Monday, March 27, 2023. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
A North Atlantic right whale surfaces March 27 on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts. The protected species has been at the center of a longtime dispute between federal regulators and commercial fishing and shipping industries.
FILE - A washed-up lobster trap and tangled line sit on a beach in Biddeford, Maine, in this Nov. 13, 2009, file photo. The state's lobster industry has been in a legal battle for years over whether the ropes used to attach lobster traps to buoys pose a threat to the whales. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
North Atlantic right whales interact at the surface on Cape Cod Bay near a research vessel from the International Fund for Animal Welfare on March 27 off the coast of Massachusetts. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound changes to marine industries.
FILE- A lobster fisherman hauls a trap in this Sept. 8, 2022, file photo, off of Kennebunkport, Maine. The state's lobster industry says many of the new gear regulations designed to protect right whale are needlessly onerous. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, files)
Lobsterman Dave Cousens applies a fresh coat of paint to one of his 800 lobster buoys, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in South Thomaston, Maine. The longtime lobsterman is in favor of closing the fishing season while right whales migrate through the Gulf of Maine but says he fears for the future of the industry because many of the new gear regulations are nonsensical. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
An endangered North Atlantic right whale is shown entangled in fishing rope with a newborn calf on Dec. 2, 2021, near Cumberland Island, Ga. This spring, on Cape Cod Bay off of Massachusetts, a team from the Center for Coastal Studies managed to remove 200 feet of rope from a different whale, but it remains entangled.
A fishing boat, foreground, and commercial ship travel across Cape Cod Bay, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Massachusetts. Vessels are restricted in how fast they can travel and how commercial fishermen can fish in an effort to protect right whales from boat strikes and rope entanglements. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A North Atlantic right whale dives on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, Monday, March 27, 2023. Scientists on a research vessel from the International Fund for Animal Welfare watch in the background. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
A North Atlantic right whale surfaces, revealing unique markings on its underside March 27 in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts.
A North Atlantic right whale dives March 27 in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts.
A pair of North Atlantic right whales interact at the surface of Cape Cod Bay, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Massachusetts. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
