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CNN Live Today

Not Looking Good For Whales Who Beached Themselves For Second Straight Day

Aired July 30, 2002 - 13:00   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: It's not looking good for the dozens of whales that have beached themselves for a second straight day. Today, they were found on an isolated inlet off the Cape Cod hamlet of Wellesley. Wildlife officials fear the giant mammals are ill, exhausted, or both.

But, once again, they're making a valiant effort to save them.

CNN's Bill Delaney reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In mud flats, a two-mile hike out from south sunken Meadow Beach on eastern Cape Cod, 40 pilot whales, again, a second day in a row, out of the water, desperately doused with water by rescuers, waiting for the tide to turn, and, hopefully, float them back into cape cod bay.

(on camera): What's dangerous about a second-day stranding?

A.J. CADY, INTL, FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE: These animals are already incredibly stressed from the first day, and so many more of them die just from shock and exposure, or injuries that they've sustained that they just haven't had a chance to recover from.

DELANEY: So what kind of news should we expect by high tide today?

CADY: It's probably going to be a sad day.

DELANEY (voice-over): Unlike Monday, when of more than 50 of the whales stranded on a sandy beach, in the town of Dennis, only nine died to the searing sun, 46 lovingly shoved back into the water at high tide.

(on camera): Nobody knows just why whales strand themselves. Scientists have theories. These pilot whales here on Cape Cod could have been chasing a school of fish, and been lured into the suddenly and deceptively shallow waters near shore here. And pilots whales are particularly sociable and hierarchical animals. They could have been following an ill or confused leader.

(voice-over): Hard to keep alive out of their element, in a broiling sun, 46 whales, in deep trouble for hours, returned Monday back to the safety of the deep. Rescuers now, again, racing against time, and the tides.

Bill Delaney, CNN, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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