Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

On Cape Cod Beach, Volunteers Working to Keep More Than 50 Beached Whales Alive

Aired July 29, 2002 - 13:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: On a Cape Cod beach this hour, volunteers are working frantically to keep more than 50 beached whales alive until high tide. Fifty-five pilot whales apparently got too close to shore on Chapin Beach during low tide and weren't able to make it back into deeper waters.

We are joined by Scott Landry, a marine biologist with the Cape Cod Stranding Center. He's joining us by telephone.

Hello, Scott.

SCOTT LANDRY, CAPE COD STRANDING CENTER: Hi.

PHILLIPS: Well, first of all, why don't you tell us the condition of these whales. So far, are they all surviving?

LANDRY: Actually, we did just get some very good news about this group. About 30 individuals were pushed off the beach and did make it into the water. Such a large number being pushed back into the water, on a day like this is not at all what we expected. Things appear to be going better than could even be hoped.

PHILLIPS: You mean your volunteers pushed 30 of those whales back into the water?

LANDRY: Yes, the Cape Cod Stranding Network trains people throughout the year on Cape Cod and other institutions, like the Center for Coastal Studies and the New England Aquarium, pitch in to help during these rescue operations.

PHILLIPS: Wow, how did they get the whales back into deeper water? Tell me how the process goes down.

LANDRY: The unusual part about This particular stranding is it was such a large number of individuals in the middle of August. We tend to think of strandings like this happening in spring or in the fall, and in August, the biggest problem that we are going to face is heat. It's an incredibly beautiful day on the Cape right now, which is not a great thing for pilot whales. These animals overheat very quickly, and so volunteers spent most of the morning putting water on the animals and shading them with sheets. The idea is to simply keep their body temperature normal. It seems like they were successful. And during the high tide, at least 30 individual animals were pushed off together. That's the key. You can't push them off individually. They need to be pushed off all together.

PHILLIPS: Wow. The pilot whales, they're also called black fish, I understand, why are they the most common animal to engage in mass strandings?

LANDRY: That's a really good question, and, unfortunately, there's no good answer for it. There are plenty of ideas. On Cape Cod, there is a number of place names that were given based upon these animals strandings. For example, Black fish Creek, is for the last few hundred years a popular place for these animals to come ashore during mass strandings. But we don't know why they do it.

There's only a couple of places on Earth that have phenomenon like this. The Cape is one of them. It leads us to think that these places share a common geology. It also might simply be the shape of the cape that creates a problem with a number of marine mammals.

PHILLIPS: All right, Scott, we are going to continue to check in. You have got 20 more whales that you are attempting to get back out into the water. We'll update our viewers on the condition of these mammals.

Scott Landry, marine biologist at the Cape Cod Stranding Center. Thanks so much, Scott.

LANDRY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com