95 False Killer Whales Strand off South Florida
National Park ServiceAn aerial view of Hog Key in the Everglades, where the false killer whales were stranded. It was the largest mass stranding of this species in Florida's history.
Kim Amendola, Communications Director of NOAA Fisheries/U.S. Department of Commerce, reports that 95 false killer whales stranded off the coast of South Florida.
"There are a total of 95 whales to this point," Amendola told us in an email. "Eighty-two are dead — 72 died on their own and 10 were euthanized. Thirteen are unaccounted for." Experts do not believe the unaccounted dolphins survived.
Wildlife officials are still trying to determine why the false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) stranded themselves. The U.S. Coast Guard first discovered the distressed dolphins in Hog Key on Saturday, January 14. “In the coming months biologists will try to determine why this happened by using samples collected during necropsy (non-human autopsy),” NOAA Fisheries stated in a release.
For more: learn about false killer whales
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation CommissionThe heartbreaking scene in Hog Key. The false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) is the world's fourth-largest dolphin. According to rescuers on the scene, many of the animals were deeply embedded in the mangroves, further complicating rescue efforts.
A marine-mammal emergency response team attempted to herd some of the dolphins that were still alive into deeper water, but they failed in their attempts. At a press conference Monday, Blair Mase of NOAA Fisheries detailed the rescue efforts.
Hog Key is a remote mangrove beach in mainland Monroe County, Florida, in the western Everglades National Park. Its isolation made it challenging for biologists to get to the scene. NOAA said National Park Service aerial flyovers made it easier for teams heading out to the scene by boat, but it became quickly apparent that the animals' situation was grim.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SPOT A STRANDED MARINE MAMMAL.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation CommissionThe pod of false killer whales made its way into the narrow channels of Everglades National Park. The dolphins, which can grow to 20 feet and 1,500 pounds, became trapped in the silty, tangled mangrove habitat, making it a difficult rescue operation for marine-mammal stranding response teams. Some experts think the false killer whales may have simply lost their way, but NOAA and other agencies continue to investigate the deaths.
This was the largest stranding of false killer whales in recorded Florida history. The first stranding of the species in the state was in 1986 when 28 false killer whales beached near Key West. Three years later, 40 of the dolphins beached off Cedar Key, on Florida's Gulf Coast near Tampa.
Partners in the response effort: Chicago Zoological Society, Dolphins Plus Oceanside Marine Mammal Responders, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Marine Animal Rescue Society, Mote Marine Laboratory, National Park Service, NOAA Fisheries, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, University of Florida, U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Geological Survey.
