IFAW Responds To Historic Mass Dolphin Stranding

ORLEANS – In a five-day long, arduous rescue process, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) marine mammal rescue team saved more than 100 stranded dolphins in Wellfleet last week.

The ordeal began on June 28 when 146 dolphins became marooned on flats in what is estimated to be the largest mass stranding event of dolphins in U.S. history. That morning, IFAW’s marine mammal rescue team, led by director Brian Sharp, received a call from a member of the public that around 10 dolphins had been spotted swimming in the Wellfleet’s Herring River, a hotbed for stranding events.

“When our volunteer responders arrived on scene, they immediately realized that we were dealing with more animals,” Sharp said. “That initial number of 10 turned to 50, then to 80, and then by the time our first staff member arrived on scene, we realized that we were dealing with over 100 animals.”

Seven IFAW staff members were tasked with identifying each animal and administering supportive care before the tide came rushing back in. As soon as the animals were able to swim, the team operated three vessels, captained by three other staff members, to herd the dolphins towards deeper waters.

“It was triage,” Sharp said, “We were outnumbered; we had about three times as many dolphins as there were responders that could go out into the mud and respond.”

Due to the sheer number of stranded mammals, Sharp and his team were unable to transport any dolphins back to their new rescue and rehabilitation center in Orleans. On the first day of the mission, staff members spent 18 hours in the mud providing aid before returning early the next morning to continue the effort.

“It was tough,” Sharp said. “As long as we worked that day, there was still no resolution. We knew that there were still animals trapped.”

The IFAW team faced a number of challenges throughout the rescue. Dolphins were spread out across a large area, making communications between the team difficult, and the time limit defined by the tides added another layer of urgency. However, after five days of intense rescue procedures and herding, the river was clear of dolphins.

An estimated seven dolphins were euthanized and 36 died of natural causes, while around 102 were saved.

“We’re constantly debriefing after these events, trying to figure out ways to improve,” Sharp said. “I’m incredibly happy with the way the team and the volunteers operated and how things came together.”

Strandings are far from uncommon to Cape Cod. The extreme tidal patterns and unique geographical features of the Cape have given the coastal region a notorious reputation as the global marine mammal stranding location.

“The Herring River is probably the biggest stranding hotspot in the world due to its geography,” Sharp said. “It’s a maze of sand flats and mud flats.”

Sharp has responded to thousands of strandings across his two decades with the IFAW, but none as big as this one. IFAW deals with an average of 316 stranded marine mammals on Cape Cod every year, 70 of which are live dolphin strandings. Each individual event usually involves no more than a dozen animals.

“To put it in perspective, this one event involved 146 animals,” Sharp said. “So in just this one day, June 28, we experienced over two years worth of dolphin strandings.”

Data mapped out by IFAW reveals that marine mammal strandings are becoming increasingly frequent. This could be the result of changes in the movement of prey, as certain fish species continue to adapt to an altering oceanic climate.

“Mammals are a bit more resilient to climate change, but they need to follow the food,” Sharp said. “The fish that they eat and the fish that those fish eat are much more susceptible to any changes in the environment.”

Earlier this year, IFAW opened the Orleans dolphin rescue center which has significantly boosted the survival rate for stranded dolphins on the Outer Cape. Sharp said that approximately 22 patients benefit from this facility each year.

“We always want to stress to people that it’s more than just those individual 22 dolphins,” Sharp said. “It’s what we can learn from these strandings and from caring for these individuals in an intensive care setting that we can then translate to broader conservation measures and increase our understanding of the environment, of the ecosystem.”