Marine Mammal Strandings Rise in Record Year for Cape
Last year, more than 100 marine mammal mass stranding responders descended on an area called the Gut in Wellfleet on June 28 to rescue close to 146 dolphins spotted along the shoreline. It took rescuers 10 hours in 80-degree heat to care for the animals, an event the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Yarmouth Port called the largest dolphin stranding in recorded history.
According to IFAW data, these types of mass strandings are becoming all too common. The Cape Cod Times reports that the average number of strandings, which include live and dead dolphins, in IFAW’s region between 1999 and 2003 was 198.6. The five-year average from 2019 to 2023 increased to 346.4 strandings. From Nov. 9 to Nov. 16, 2024, 54 dolphins ended up stranded across several beaches and water areas in the IFAW response area, with the team marking its 500th stranding response of 2024.
“These teams are out all the time, and they’re exhausted,” said Katie Moore, senior director for animal rescue at the nonprofit, in an interview with The Cape Cod Times. “I’ve never seen anything like it over such a long period of time.”
The agency, meanwhile, is not only struggling with the demands on the time and resources of its rescue team. It’s also battling funding; its one annual source of federal grant money is not guaranteed, and Massachusetts does not offer set funding. The IFAW receives approximately 7% of its funding from federal contracts and grants, but it relies on individual donors for 71% and supporting foundations for 22%, respectively.
Despite the intense labor and long hours involved, volunteers like Carolyn Castiglione remain the lifeblood of this important work. “I’m planning to volunteer as long as I can, as long as my little legs can carry me,” she said.
