On Wednesday last week, a pod of eight bottlenose whales had been found stranded alive on the shores of Donegal, Ireland. Though the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) had rushed in immediately, they could solely perform palliative care. Meanwhile, the local police had to set up barriers to keep people from taking selfies with the dying whales.
Even when the tide came in, most of the animals were not able to break free. Since the necessary euthanization drug was not available in Ireland and shooting the animals was very difficult, the IWDG team was forced to watch the whales die. As a deep-diving species, they are especially prone to suffocate under their own weight when not supported by the water.
Still, one animal was able to refloat itself and swam out with the upcoming tide. IWDG said to be “cautiously optimistic it will make it out." Though this offered some hope to the situation, it is unlikely that the leftover whale will make it as the species is known to live in deep-diving groups. IWDG continues to be on standby and check to see if it restrands. So far, no further information is available.
The incident has been covered in this article: https://news.sky.com/story/whales-die-after-washing-up-on-beach-in-largest-live-stranding-in-irelands-history-12052589
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