Whole pod of 77 whales die after washing up on UK beach – and no one knows why

Post-mortem investigations have begun on the whales.

A pod of whales are all dead after a mass stranding on a Scottish island.

77 long-finned pilot whales washed up in Sanday, Orkney, yesterday morning and reported to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).

12 of the surviving whales were forced to be euthanised after spending too much time on shore, BDMLR said, after medics were mobilised to save them.

Molly Brown, who works for BDMLR, said the cause of the stranding was unknown.

Pilot whales are very social animals, however, meaning that if one was stranded, the rest could have followed.

Post-mortem investigations have begun on the whales.

Dr Andrew Brownlow, director of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, said mass strandings of this scale are becoming more common in Scotland.

He said: ‘Pilot whales can form very large groups, superpods of many tens, when they are subject to disturbance such as noise or the threat of killer whales.’

‘We want to know what acoustic activity was taking place in the hours and days before this latest stranding. Man has made our oceans noisier and these activities are having an affect – so we need to get a better understanding at what’s happening and the impact on creatures like whales.’

Last June, a pod of 55 pilot whales died after a mass stranding on Traigh Mhor beach at North Tolsta on the Isle of Lewis.

Marine medics attended, and theBritish Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) has said they have now all died.

The BDMLR gave an update that said that one of the whales appeared to have had a vaginal prolapse.

This led them to suspect that the whole pod stranded due to one female giving birth.

Pilot whales are known for their strong social bonds, so often when one whale gets into difficulty and strands, the rest follow.

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