Major operation to find cause of whale pod stranding in Orkney – BBC News

Updated 3 hours ago

Experts from around the UK have arrived in Orkney to carry out examinations and post-mortems on pod of 77 pilot whales that died after washing ashore.

The animals were found on the island of Sanday on Thursday following what could be the largest mass stranding in nearly 100 years.

Cetacean specialists – whose expertise is in aquatic mammals – will use tissue samples to establish the cause of the stranding.

Nick Davison, stranding coordinator for the Scottish Marine Animals Stranding Scheme (SMASS), said the team have selected four female pilot whales to be examined in a post mortem.

Due to the scale of the stranding, these investigations will be carried out on some, not all, of the animals.

Members of the public are being asked to stay away from the area.

Mr Davison said by examining the females, the team can explore what may have caused the stranding and also learn more about how the whales lived.

He said: “It’s often a process of elimination.

“Our aim here is really find out what’s put them ashore, whether its disease or whether its something we’ve done.”

Using samples taken from the whales, scientists can rule out disease, entanglements, ear damage from sonar and interaction with predators.

Mr Davison said the process of examining the whales could last three or four days.

Emma Neave-Webb, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) charity, said removing the animals was a “massive undertaking”.

The pod included male whales, measuring up to seven metres (22ft) long, as well as females, calves and juveniles.

Ms Neave-Webb said she felt helpless and emotional visiting the site and seeing the scale of the stranding.

She said: “I’ve seen this type of thing before through stranding’s that have happened globally but I’ve never experienced it in person with that many animals lying on a beach.

“The animals were very closely packed together with alive animals next to dead animals – they were moving around quite a bit, thrashing their tails occasionally so it was a really dangerous situation.”