After the mass stranding in July, where 47 pilot whales came precariously close to the shoreline, a second mass stranding event involving pilot whales occurred in Georgia on St. Catherines Island just over two months later. Last time, beach goers were able to nudge all but three whales back into the open water in an amazing community effort. This time, the whales were not so lucky. While 26 whales were spotted around the perimeter in total, 15 ended up without a chance to get back into the water with most of them dead before they were found.
Program manager of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Jason Less is concerned, saying they had “never seen or heard anything quite like this”. Due to their size, pilot whales are usually to be found in deep waters 100 miles from the shore. Measuring up to 20 feet (6.1 m) in length and a weight of up to 3 tons, “they are large animals and there’s just really no way for them to get back into the water”. Necropsies are hoped to solve the question as to what brought the stranding event on. Since pilot whales are very social animals, a single injured individual might have led them astray. Other clues might be biotoxins, ingestion of plastic or fishing gear, or signs that they had been exposed to acoustic noises like bombs or sonars.
Read more about the massive rescue effort in July, including a video made by one of the rescuers here: https://www.news4jax.com/news/georgia/video-dozens-of-whales-wash-ashore-on-st-simons-island_
More information on the less fortunate stranding event in late September, including a news report on both cases: https://www.news4jax.com/news/georgia/15-pilot-whales-dead-in-georgias-2nd-mass-stranding-since-july
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