Forty-one beach whales have been reported to be stranded and swimming freely in shallow waters near shore in southwest Florida. Everglades National Park officials said that ten whales have already died while rescuers tried with little success to coax them out into deeper water.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA Wildlife officers reported that other four whales were euthanized because they could not be saved. Via Twitter, NOAA said that survival rates were typically low in such instances.
Source: CNN
Prior to this, park spokeswoman Linda Friar told reporter that these whales were first spotted last Tuesday afternoon in a remote part of the park near the Gulf of Mexico. They were believed to be short-finned pilot whales typically found in deep water in tropical and temperate areas. "Pilot whales are common stranders. They tend to do this, and when rescued, they tend to rebeach themselves" Friar said.
Friar added that, "This area of the park is probably the most challenging for something like this. When the tide goes out, there’s hundreds of a yard of very shallow shoals."
According to NOAA, short-finned pilot whales typically travel in pods of 25 to 30 animals. Adults weigh 2,200 to 6,600 pounds (1,000 to 3,000 kg), with females averaging 12 feet long and males averaging 18 feet long. Biologists have yet to do necropsies on the dead whales to try to determine why they were stranded, NOAA further said.
For more trending news and updates, like us on Facebook follow us on Twitter add us to your circle in Google+ and we will keep you posted directly on your news feeds.
No comments: