Experts 'race against time' to solve UKs worst ever whale stranding

Experts are facing a ‘race against time’ to carry out post-mortems on pod of 55 beached pilot whales as they investigate cause of UKs worst ever mass stranding

• Dozens of the mammals washed up at Traigh Mhor in North Tolsta on Sunday

Sealife experts are in a ‘race against time’ to discover why 55 whales washed ashore on a Scottish beach in one of the deadliest mass strandings in the country’s history. 

Dozens of the mammals were discovered at Traigh Mhor in North Tolsta, on the Isle of Lewis, at around 7am on Sunday, however it soon emerged that only 15 were still alive. 

Attempts were made to re-float two of the most active whales, but by 3.30pm, it was decided that the remaining pod members should be euthanised on welfare grounds, despite a multi-agency rescue attempt.

Tragically, just one of the highly social animals was successfully returned to sea and it has not been seen since, according to reports, while one was found with a prolapsed vagina, suggesting the pod may have stranded due to one female giving birth.

Dr Andrew Brownlow from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Monday: ‘In terms of the number of casualty animals, this is the biggest one we’ve had. This is one of the biggest pilot whale mass strandings we’ve ever dealt with.’

Dozens of the mammals were discovered at Traigh Mhor in North Tolsta, on the Isle of Lewis, at around 7am on Sunday, however it soon emerged that only 15 were still alive

READ MORE: Whale hunt cruise horror: Ambassador Cruise Line apologises after passengers witness 78 dolphins getting slaughtered 

Spectators turn out to watch the traditional whaling practice on the shore, in the Faroe Islands 

Dr Brownlow is leading the taskforce today in a bid to determine the cause of the pod’s death, which remains unclear, however he said he had a ‘fairly clear idea’ how the whales could have come onto a ‘very shallow’ beach in quite bad weather.

He explained: ‘Because they’re pilot whales, they form very strong social bonds.

‘So if one animal goes on to the beach for whatever reason then it can be that the entire pod will follow and that is basically what happened in this case.’

Dr Brownlow said there was still a backlog of post-mortem examinations to take place on animals from previous mass strandings and that determining the cause of death will be a ‘monumental task’.

He said: ‘What we will try and do is triage these animals.

‘We will select the animals we think best represent the rest of the pod and make sure we take samples and as much data from those as we can. Then it’s simply a race against time, energy and weather.

‘We will do the most we possibly can to find out what’s going on here.’

The whales will be taken to a landfill site in Stornoway to be worked on and Dr Brownlow said they would be buried after the post-mortem examinations were complete.

Pilot whales are susceptible to ocean noise – particularly military sonar.

‘We contacted the Navy and they said it did not have active military manourves in the area,’ said a spokeswoman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).

‘Unfortunately pilot whales do suffer when they strand on soft sand. We kept hope to the end until it was decided on welfare grounds that those that were still alive needed to be euthanised.’

Western Isles Council – Comhairle nan Eilean Siar – has asked people to avoid the area as a clean-up operation continues.

The animals were still on the beach on Monday with a digger seen arriving to the area. 

Attempts were made to re-float two of the most active whales, but by 3.30pm, it was decided that the remaining pod members should be euthanised on welfare grounds, despite a multi-agency rescue attempt

Tragically, just one of the highly social animals was successfully returned to sea and it has not been seen since, according to reports

A mass stranding of whales on Traigh Mhor in North Tolsta, on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland

The latest stranding comes after what is believed to have been Scotland’s largest ever such event in July, 2011, at the Kyle of Durness in Sutherland

After post-mortems – with members of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme taking skin samples today – it is likely they will be sent to landfill.

The BDMLR released an update on Sunday evening which said that one of the dead whales appeared to have had a vaginal prolapse.

This led them to suspect that the whole pod stranded due to one female giving birth.

Pilot whales are known for their strong social bonds, so often when one whale gets into difficulty and strands, the rest follow.

Attempts continued throughout the day to give the surviving whales first aid.

But after the attempt to refloat one of the whales, it was found further down the beach.

A further three whales then died, leaving 12 still alive – eight adults and four calves.

A statement said: ‘At about 15:30, the local vet along with the Coastguard, Fire and Rescue, and a forensics vet came to the conclusion that the shallow beach and rough wave conditions made it too unsafe to refloat the remaining animals.

The whales will be taken to a landfill site in Stornoway to be worked on and Dr Brownlow said they would be buried after the post-mortem examinations were complete

The BDMLR released an update on Sunday evening which said that one of the dead whales appeared to have had a vaginal prolapse. This led them to suspect that the whole pod stranded due to one female giving birth

Pilot whales are small whales characterised as part of the dolphin family

‘Considering how long the pilot whales had been out of the water in addition to the poor conditions, it was decided that they should be euthanised on welfare grounds.’

Members of the Lewis community, Stornoway Coastguard, Stornoway and Shawbost Fire and Rescue, the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), the Scottish SPCA, and Civil Air Support were all involved in the rescue effort, with vets and marine experts being flown in to help.

Pilot whales are small whales characterised as part of the dolphin family.

A council spokesperson said: ‘Comhairle nan Eilean Siar asks that the public follow police advice and avoid Traigh Mhòr.

‘The Comhairle has engaged with professionals and is now working with partner organisations to clear the beach.’

The pod was spotted close to shore around 7pm on Saturday, but it is not known exactly when they beached.

Originally the pod was thought to be a group of dolphins but it soon emerged they were pilot whales.

Long-finned pilot whales are highly social animals that have been recorded in groups of just a few to aggregations of over 1000 individuals.

A large pod of more than 50 pilot whales have become stranded in the Outer Hebrides

Pilot whales are well known for their mass stranding behaviour

They are well known for their mass stranding behaviour, and in 1992 eleven animals stranded on the Isle of Lewis.

A pod of pilot whales also stranded in July, 2011, at the Kyle of Durness in Sutherland in what is believed to have been then Scotland’s largest ever such event. Some 19 of the 70 whales died.

Four large bombs exploded underwater by the Royal Navy were later blamed by government scientists for the mass stranding.

A long-delayed report by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs said that the noise from the explosions could have damaged the hearing and navigational abilities of the whales, causing them to beach and die.

Generally, 400-600 strandings are reported in the UK every year. That may seem like a lot but sometimes mass strandings occur where more than one animal strands at once, often alive.

Around a dozen rescuers have been pictured taking part in the rescue effort on the Isle of Lewis

A total of 16 whales died after being stranded on the east coast of Scotland in September 2012.

Ten others were refloated after being kept alive by vets from British Divers and Marine Life Rescue.

The incident between Anstruther and Pittenweem in Fife involved pilot whales, each of them approximately 20ft (6m) long.

In June 2015, 21 live pilot whales became stranded on the Isle of Skye. Although 18 survived and returned to sea, three died, including a female who’d recently given birth. The post-mortem results showed the animals were in a good nutritional state.

In September 2022, nearly 200 pilot whales died after becoming stranded on Ocean Beach, part of Tasmania’s west coast. Authorities said only about 35 survived of the 230 that were stranded.

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