Sri Lanka’s navy has rescued an elephant that got into difficulties after being washed out to sea, a spokesman said Wednesday, calling it a “miraculous escape”. Chaminda Walakuluge said the navy mounted the 12-hour rescue after spotting the elephant struggling to stay afloat around eight kilometres (five miles) off the island’s northeast coast. Divers aided … Read more
A group of 20 helpless whales that became beached after a cyclone have been rescued. The desperate mammals had become stranded in shallow waters near the village of Sampur, Sri Lanka, after being washed up in the wake of Cyclone Mora. Sailors and villagers teamed up to rescue the pod of pilot whales off the island’s … Read more
Sri Lanka’s navy and local residents rescued a pod of about 20 stranded pilot whales off the island’s northeastern coast on Wednesday, an official said. Navy spokesman Chaminda Walakuluge said sailors with the help of residents pushed the whales back in to deeper waters after they washed up on the Sampur coast near the port … Read more
In Morocco’s northern port city of Al-Hoceima, fishermen are clamouring for state support for a struggling sector which they say is under attack from dolphins. In the harbour, fishermen can often be seen mending nets they claim have been destroyed by a type of dolphin they have dubbed El Negro, or “the Black One” in … Read more
Campaigners hailed the move as the beginning of the end of “marine circuses” France has banned the breeding in captivity of dolphins and killer whales, in a move hailed by campaigners as a major victory. The government also banned the keeping of all whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity, except for orcas and bottlenose dolphins … Read more
Wild dolphins are exposed to more pollutants than their captive counterparts, which could explain why they face higher rates of illness and disease, US researchers said Wednesday. The study in the journal PLOS ONE analyzed the health of two wild dolphin populations — one group in Florida and another in South Carolina. They were compared … Read more
The grim task of clearing hundreds of washed-up whale carcasses was under way in New Zealand Tuesday, with the beach closed over fears the bodies will fill with gas and explode as they decompose. The sands at Farewell Spit where the nearly 700 pilot whales beached in one of the largest mass strandings ever in … Read more
Rescuers found no newly stranded whales Monday on a notorious stretch of New Zealand’s coastline where hundreds of marine mammals died after beaching themselves last week, conservation officials said. In good news for volunteers who worked to save nearly 700 pilot whales that swam ashore, the Department of Conservation said a pod of about 240 … Read more
Most of the more than 200 whales who became stranded on New Zealand’s notorious Farewell Spit on the weekend have been able to refloat themselves, conservation officials said Sunday. However they had not left the area and there were fears they could become stuck on the coastline again. About 17 other whales from the pod … Read more
Another 200 whales were stranded on a New Zealand coastline late Saturday, frustrating rescuers who had battled through the day and even defied a shark threat to try and keep them at sea. At twilight, Department of Conservation (DOC) officials made the decision to leave the whales overnight as it became too risky to continue … Read more
Volunteers in New Zealand have managed to refloat about 100 of the 400 pilot whales that swam aground on a remote beach on Friday. Many of the whales died overnight at Farewell Spit at the top of the South Island, but those that survived are now swimming in the bay off the beach. Hundreds of … Read more