Saving dolphins on Cape Cod and sharing rescue expertise worldwide

Here's what this past week looked like for our team in numbers:

• 54 dolphins stranded in total across multiple beaches and waterways.
• 46 stranded live; 41 of these were released back to deeper waters to rejoin the ocean.
• On Wednesday, the team marked its 500th response of the year-a testament to the extraordinary demands of 2024.
• In total, 13 animals unfortunately died (six before we arrived, seven after).

Following our response to the largest mass dolphin stranding the US has ever seen, this November, IFAW's rescue team was once again called to action on Cape Cod. It all began on Saturday, 9 November, with the first call to IFAW's 24/7 stranding hotline around 6:30 a.m.

By noon that day, we had responded to an estimated 19 common dolphins stranded across eight locations in five different towns on Cape Cod.

Locations included Ellis Landing in Brewster, First Encounter Beach in Eastham, Crowes Pasture in Dennis, the Herring River Gut in Wellfleet, Mayo Beach in Wellfleet, Jeremy Point in Wellfleet, Skaket Beach in Orleans, and Sea Street Beach in Dennis.

A combination of rough winds, cold weather, and a challenging surf made for a complex rescue operation-but the team successfully stabilised and transported 10 dolphins to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown for release, giving them the greatest chance of survival. At this point, six dolphins had died.

Throughout the week, the calls kept coming. Dolphins stranded on beaches, in marshes, and in narrow tidal zones. Each location presented unique hurdles, from navigating deep mud to racing against the tide. The team's efforts spanned long days and nights, sometimes requiring innovative solutions like herding dolphins with kayaks or applying satellite tags to monitor their post-rescue movements.

In total, 43 dolphins stranded, with 34 alive. Of those, we were able to release 29 throughout the week, and about 11 refloated with some assistance.

The same week, we also responded to a live minke whale stranded in the surf. This whale died of natural causes, and our team performed a necropsy the next day.

With this flurry of activity, our marine mammal rescue team reached the milestone of responding to 500 animals-dolphins, whales, and seals-total in 2024.