Beachgoers in St. Simons, Georgia encountered something strange in mid-July: an entire pod of pilot whales had beached themselves. Between 40 and 50 whales were stranded, trying desperately to get themselves back into deeper water. So what did the spectators do? They banded together to help.
Strangers worked together to get the whales off the beach—children and adults alike. Those who couldn’t push splashed water on the whales. Officials were contacted, but it was clear there was no time to waste. Before the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had shown up on the scene, the citizen-rescuers had pushed most of the pod out into deeper water. “While stranding is a known natural occurrence, the only thing we can do is to continue pushing them out to sea,” Clay George, a senior wildlife expert with the DNR, said in a press release. The reason for the massive stranding is unclear.
Despite their best efforts, though, three whales died from the ordeal, but DNR is keeping a close eye on the rest of the pod. A few days after the stranding, they managed to spot the pod moving farther offshore. “The group of pilot whales involved in the stranding on St. Simons Island Tuesday evening was seen swimming offshore Wednesday,” DNR wrote in an update. “Brunswick boat pilots spotted the whales Wednesday morning. As of that afternoon, the pod had moved farther off-shore. It was monitored by the National Marine Mammal Foundation, a partner with DNR in dolphin research. DNR also checked area beaches, marshes and waterways by helicopter but no other stranded animals were found.”
