24 Pilot Whales Buried After Beaching
EASTHAM, Mass. — Twenty-four pilot whales were buried Sunday at a dump after the second mass beaching within a month, while three survivors joined more than 200 other whales in Cape Cod Bay.
A fourth whale that survived the beaching late last week was resting in a tank at Sealand of Cape Cod in Brewster, said George King, the aquarium director.
“He’s swimming with a saddleback dolphin that we rescued last January,” King said. “They’re the survivors.”
A fifth whale also was taken to Sealand on Saturday but died shortly after being placed in the water, he said.
About 50 whales died in the latest beaching, but the exact number was still uncertain because some whales were recounted from the Dec. 3 stranding, said Greg Early, assistant curator at the New England Aquarium.
Many of the dead whales were still on eight beaches from Barnstable to Wellfleet.
Three whales apparently rejoined a pod of 250 other pilot whales, said David Mattila of the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown. The three mammals were tagged with glowing markers and were trucked 10 miles to an inlet in Wellfleet.
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