Specialists trying to determine cause of mass whale stranding on Orkney

Specialists on Orkney are trying to determine the cause of what is thought to be the largest UK mass whale stranding event in almost 100 years.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) received a report of a mass stranding of up to 100 long-finned pilot whales at Tresness beach on the Isle of Sanday, Orkney, just before 11am on Thursday, July 11.

Of the 77 whales which were on the beach, only 12 survived with medics mobilised from around the islands and further afield in Scotland in a bid to save them.

The surviving whales, however, were euthanised due to the length of time they had spent on the beach.

Rebecca von Hellfeld, a marine biologist from the University of Aberdeen, took part in the rescue operation as a volunteer with the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS).

She told STV News: “The beach was hidden by a small dune, which means that when you stepped on top of the dune you could see the entire extent of these animals just lying on the beach.

“I only got to the beach once all the animals had already died or for welfare reasons had been put out of their misery – I have been told it was quite touching moments.

“It was just a massive effort on everyone’s part.

“Long-finned pilot whales are very sociable creatures, which means if one of them strands they will all try and crowl around them and it makes it really difficult to re-float animals, even if all other conditions would allow for it.

“We’ve done a lot of post-mortem examinations as the early stages of our assessment and have taken samples from different organs and tissues for later analysis in the lab.”

The SMASS will attempt to recover some of the bodies to undertake post-mortem examinations, with BDMLR saying local farmers are “on standby” to help recover the animals using tractors and trailers.

But it’s not the first mass stranding on Scottish shores in recent years.

A pod of 55 pilot whales died after a stranding on the Isle of Lewis last year.

With two of the largest mass stranding events in recent years happening in Scotland, there are more questions to answer over why it is happening and to hopefully prevent further instances in the future.