Dolphins trapped behind drifting pack ice

[catgirl]

Source: Associated Press

SEAL COVE, Newfoundland - Five exhausted dolphins have been trapped behind drifting pack ice for several days and now need rapid rescue, the mayor of an eastern Canadian village said Wednesday.

The 8-foot animals somehow became separated from the open Atlantic and have been swimming for four days in a shrinking open-water area of Seal Cove's harbor, just 100 feet from shore, said Mayor Winston May.

"They keep going round circles, trying to keep this little pool of water open so that they can have their breathing area. And the whole bay seems to be froze up, there's no where else for them to go," said May.

Wayne Ledwell, an expert on whale rescues, said dolphins won't swim long distances under ice since they need to surface regularly to breathe and the slabs of ice would make that impossible.

Read more: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090219/twl-canada-trapped-dolphins-1be00ca.html

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I hope Canada's federal Fisheries Department acts ASAP.

[liberalmuse]

1. OMG, that breaks my heart.

I hope they can be rescued before it's too late. Goddamn it! :cry:

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. They made their choice. I say let them drown.

Rescuing them would create a "moral hazard."

[shraby]

3. Sure hope that's sarcasm.

[catgirl]

4. A moral hazard?

Huh?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. That's the term the rethugs have been tossing around lately.

It's a moral hazard if you bail out homeowners.

[KamaAina]

6. Are dolphins normally found off Newfoundland in winter?

Of course, global climate change couldn't have anything to do with it, 'cause that's all just a myth. :sarcasm:

[a la izquierda]

7. poor things...i hope they get out...

[madibella]

8. They Got Them Out!!!!!

SEAL COVE, N.L. — A group of men in a boat cut a quarter-kilometre path through ice off this tiny community Thursday and led three white-beaked dolphins that had been trapped since the weekend to freedom.

Mayor Winston May said one of the dolphins was so weakened by the ordeal that a 16-year-old boy wearing a survival suit went into the frigid water to attach a harness to it.

The animal was towed to open water, where it swam away.

"It was a real nice ending. We're all glad it ended this way," a pleased May said in a telephone interview.

The rescue ended a dramatic day where initial reports of a rescue attempt suggested it had failed.

May said earlier that the roar of the engine from the five-metre speedboat used to break the ice spooked the dolphins and it was feared they had swam under the ice and drowned.

But the mayor later revised that, saying the dolphins returned to their small breathing hole and the rescuers were able to lead them through the soupy "slob ice" to safety.

"Two just followed the boat," he said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5i3W4im9IW37oXDzMaywBWPV_Vjtw

Looks like one of the four either didn't make it, or got out on it's own. Let's hope for the latter.

[Coventina]

9. YAY!!!

:kick: