Whales stranded on Orkney island beach British Divers Marine Life Rescue

Around 77 whales have died in a tragic mass stranding on the isle of Sanday in Orkney. The video below shows the scale – and horror – of the situation.

The mass stranding of long-finned pilot whales was reported yesterday morning (11 July).

On arrival at the scene, British Divers Marine Life Rescue found only 12 still alive, all of them having evidently been stranded for several hours.

‘With the very limited resources and people immediately available, health assessments and first aid were provided to the surviving animals as the incoming tide approached,’ BDMLR said yesterday.

And now the organisation has announced that the remaining 12 pilot whales have been euthanised. This was due to their condition deteriorating from the many hours they spent stranded on the beach resulting in crush injury from their own weight and the high likelihood that they have inhaled water with the incoming tide.

‘The substrate they’re on is also incredibly soft meaning they have sunk even deeper into the sand when the tide washed over them, so they unfortunately weren’t able to refloat themselves,’ a statement says.

This mass stranding will join the higher echelons of mass strandings in UK waters. It follows an entire pod of 55 pilot whales dieing after a mass stranding on a beach on the Isle of Lewis in July 2023.

The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) will attempt to recover as many bodies as possible for post-mortem sampling and examination to try to determine the circumstances of stranding. This is currently unknown as there are no obvious indications as to why they all stranded, and it may be some time before full results are available due to the huge task of conducting these examinations.

“It’s been one hell of a day,” says Emma Neave-Webb who provided the images used on this story via Instagram. “A huge thank you to everyone who has messaged with words of support today. . .. Never thought I’d be leading a response to the largest mass stranding in Scotland for possibly nearly 100 years.

whale stranded on sand on one of Orkney islands as circa 77 die in pod

“Sadly we weren’t able to save any due to the length of time they’d been stranded and the situation they were in – being realistic we always knew we were up against it tbh.

“Now the investigation begins – at least a positive is we will learn so much from these animals. A long (and very smelly) few days to come.”

BDMLR’s statement continues: ‘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. Thank you also to all of our supporters who have been sending their heartfelt sentiments to the team, as well as SMASS and other colleagues in the background who have been assisting our rescue coordinators and vets with technical support too.’ Donations to help the organisation continue its work can be made online.

Image and video courtesy of Emma Neave-Webb.

The post Orkney mass whale stranding – remaining whales euthanised appeared first on Marine Industry News.