Cape & Islands News

Four more dolphins rescued in Wellfleet Sunday night

Rescuers perform nighttime release at Herring Cove in Provincetown

   Rescuers prepare two of the four dolphins for release back into the water Sunday night. David G. Curran photo.

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) rescue teams were at it again Sunday, rescuing four more dolphins that had stranded earlier in the day in Wellfleet. While many Cape Codders were settling in for the Super Bowl kick-off, rescuers were freeing the four Common dolphins from an area in Wellfleet that now goes by "the gut", according to Michael Booth, IFAW's communication officer.

The dolphins were examined, tagged and transported to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown where they were released into the ocean around 9 p.m.

This batch of strandings now brings to the total to 122 as of January 12. This batch of strandings now brings to the total to 122 as of January 12.  Rescuers and researchers are still puzzled by the high number of strandings that have occurred since that date. On Saturday, two more Common dolphins, a male and a female, were rescued from Wellfleet Harbor and released at Herring Cove just before 6 p.m. that same day.

The crisis has received the attention of NOAA and now Washington, where IFAW's head of Marine Mammal Rescue and Research Katie Moore addressed Congress on Friday. Moore is expected to comment on the address sometime Monday.

Read more about the recent strandings here:

• More than ten dolphins strand in Wellfleet, seven rescued
• IFAW rescues nine more dolphins after Brewster stranding
• Dolphin stranding mystery continues; member of IFAW team to address Congress later this week
• IFAW reports the death of two more dolphins Monday
  
• Kerry, Keating ask for NOAA's help in finding cause of dolphin strandings
  
• Seven more dolphins strand in Wellfleet Thursday
  
• Six stranded dolphins rescued in Wellfleet