77 pilot whales die on Scotland beach in "one of the larger mass strandings" seen in U.K.
CBSN
London — A dozen whales that initially survived a mass stranding this week off the northeast coast of Scotland had to be euthanized, a British marine life rescue charity has said. A total of 77 long-finned pilot whales were found washed ashore Thursday, 65 of them already dead, by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) organization on the Sanday island of Scotland's Orkney archipelago.
"Sadly the remaining 12 pilot whales have been euthanized due to their condition deteriorating from the many hours they have spent stranded on the beach," the BDMLR said in a statement late Thursday.
Having been at the beach for a long time led to "crush injury from their own weight and the high likelihood that they have inhaled water with the incoming tide."
