Eight dolphins die on New Jersey beach after ‘mass stranding event’

Eight dolphins have died after washing up on the shores of New Jersey on Tuesday. 

Sea Isle City officials said in a Facebook post that the marine mammals were located on the 50th and 52nd Street beaches and that Marine Mammal Center was on the way. 

A Fox 29 Philadelphia helicopter was on the scene as crews created pools of water around the dolphins, covering them with wet blankets and towels.

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The decision was made to humanely euthanize them to prevent them from further suffering as their conditions rapidly deteriorated.

Returning the dolphins to the ocean “would have only prolonged their inevitable death.”

All eight dolphins were transported to the New Jersey State Lab for immediate necropsies. 

“We share in the public’s sorrow for these beautiful animals, and hope that the necropsies will help us understand the reason for their stranding,” the center said. 

Sea Isle City Police, Fire, EMS and Public Works Department assisted the center in their rescue efforts. 

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This mass stranding event comes after weeks of reports of similar events on East Coast and New Jersey shores. 

A dead humpback whale was reported by the U.S. Coast Guard around 4 or 5 miles away from New York and New Jersey in mid-February. Earlier in the month, three dolphins also died along the Jersey Shore. 

A minke whale and an endangered North Atlantic right whale both appeared to have been struck by vessels along the East Coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are the greatest human threats to large whales and that, at this point, there is no evidence that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys off New York and New Jersey could potentially cause mortality of whales. 

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The agency noted that there are no specific links between recent large whale mortalities and currently ongoing surveys.