Whales Beach At St. Simons

UDPATE: Wednesday, July 17, 2019: A group of pilot whales involved in strandings Tuesday that left three of them dead along St. Simons Island was seen offshore Wednesday. While further strandings are possible, Georgia Department of Natural Resources biologists hope the threat to this pod of pilot whales has passed. Brunswick boat pilots spotted the whales on Wednesday morning. As of that afternoon, the pod had moved even farther off-shore. The group was monitored through early that afternoon 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.

Original Article: Multiple pilot whales repeatedly beached themselves on Georgia’s St. Simons Island yesterday. Dozens of beachgoers worked to push the whales off the beach and back into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

A Facebook Live video captured the scene.

https://www.facebook.com/dixie.mccoy.7/videos/10162062217905611/

“While stranding is a known natural occurrence, the only thing we can do is to continue pushing them out to sea,” says wildlife biologist Clay George.

Personnel from the DNR Wildlife Resources Division, DNR Coastal Resources Division, Georgia Sea Turtle Center, NOAA, Glynn County Emergency Management and others participated in efforts to push several beached whales back out to sea, with some animals continuing to return to the beach. While some animals were successfully pushed back out, two of the whales have died. These whales will be taken for a necropsy. The remaining whales were last seen swimming in the sound, and it is hoped they will continue to keep moving out to sea.

Among cetaceans, pilot whales are the most common species known to strand in mass numbers.