A pod of eight dolphins are dead after being discovered in a mass stranding event in Sea Isle City on Tuesday morning.

“Their conditions were rapidly deteriorating,” the MMSC said in a statement on social media. “The decision was made to humanely euthanize the dolphins to prevent further suffering, as returning them to the ocean would have only prolonged their inevitable death.”

“All eight dolphins have been transported to the NJ State Lab for immediate necropsies,” the MMSC shared in the statement. “We share in the public’s sorrow for these beautiful animals, and hope that the necropsies will help us understand the reason for their stranding.”

The dolphins were discovered around 11 a.m. local time, according to thePhiladelphia Inquirer.Bystanders, the outlet reported, used buckets of waterto keep the beached dolphins wet.

Dolphins dead in Sea Isle City.

8 Dolphins Die After Becoming Stranded on Jersey Shore

According to SWNS, shortly after the dead male whale was found, emergency service workers used machinery to pull the whale’s body away from the high tide line, cordoned off the carcass, and prepared the dead animal for a necropsy.

“This is a sad day down on the South Shore, this is something you don’t want to see,” Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin told News 12about the grim discovery, adding that this is the area’s first whale beaching in four years.

Beached Whale on Long Island.JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

People look on as emergency crews try to determine how to handle the carcass of a humpback whale that washed up on shore in Lido Beach, New York, USA, 30 January 2023. There have been seven whale deaths in the last few weeks on the beaches of New York and neighboring New Jersey. Beached Whale on Long Island, Lido Beach, USA - 30 Jan 2023

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Marine biologists conducted the necropsy and will use the information gathered from the procedure to determine the humpback whale’s cause of death. After the necropsy, the animal was buried at the beach, per SWNS.

Officials are especially eager to see the results of the humpback’s necropsy as at least ten whales have beached on shores in New York and New Jersey since December.According to WABC, one of the whales died due to a vessel strike, but the cause of death for many of the remaining whales is still unknown.

source: people.com