A mass stranding of bottlenose dolphins off Cape Cod continued on Tuesday with nearly two dozen more animals stranded, according to an animal rescue organization.
Several of the creatures had died after being stranded Monday, but no dolphins died Tuesday morning, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The organization has described the stranding as the largest of bottlenose dolphins off Massachusetts.
On Tuesday morning, as the tide went out about 5 a.m., IFAW workers started to spot stranded dolphins in Wellfleet’s Herring River Gut — eventually, 19 live dolphins were found stranded in three locations along nine miles down to Brewster, the organization said.
But the dolphins were in decent condition and refloated as the tide came back in, IFAW said. Staff and volunteers were trying to coax the animals out of Wellfleet Bay before the next low tide Tuesday evening.
About 30 dolphins were stranded at First Encounter Beach in Eastham on Monday, according to IFAW, which has set up a dolphin rescue center on the Cape, which has more dolphin strandings than anywhere in the world.
Cape Cod sees more dolphins stranded on the shore than anywhere else in the world, but until now, the closest medical facilities to treat them were in Florida.
Members of the public who observe a stranded dolphin are urged not to push or drage them back into the water. They should instead keep a safe distance and contact trained rescue experts through the IFAW Stranding Hotline.
Bottlenose dolphins are typically an offshore species, IFAW said, but they have seen a growing trend of the animals closer to Cape Cod’s shores in recent years.
Two years ago, 146 dolphins were stranded on Cape Cod, which IFAW at the time said was the largest U.S. stranding ever.
37-year-old Allie is due to give birth to the Brookfield Zoo Chicago’s first bottlenose calf in a decade.