PROVINCETOWN, MA- Interview & Dolphin Resce (02-04-09)

WELLFLEET - Four stranded common dolphins rescued in Wellfleet Harbor this morning were successfully released this afternoon back into the ocean at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown.

About 30 volunteers with the Cape Cod Stranding Network were on-hand for the release of the three female and one male dolphins.

One of the dolphins was plucked from Duck Creek behind Mac's Shack by stranding network members. Rescuers pulled the three other stranded dolphins from Chipman's Cove in Wellfleet Harbor.

In addition, a dolphin and a porpoise were found dead in Brewster today, officials said. No further details were immediately available.

Additionally today, a 35-40-foot minke whale seen swimming around Wellfleet Harbor earlier today was successfully coaxed back to sea by Wellfleet harbor officials.

Wellfleet Harbor Master Mike Flanagan said he was plowing the parking lot at the town pier at 7:30 this morning when a fisherman told him that a whale was swimming in the harbor.

Flanagan and assistant harbor master Mike May got in their boat and managed to coax the whale into deeper water. At one point the whale started to head towards Herring River, Flanagan said, but they were able to herd it out to sea.

Kate Touhey, a marine mammal rescuer with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which runs the stranding network, said that from photos taken of the whale she identified it as a minke whale.

According to the American Cetacean Society, minkes are baleen whales with a widespread distribution, "though they are rarely observed in the tropics. They seem to prefer icy waters."

Flanagan said the whales and dolphins may have been attracted to Wellfleet Harbor by an abundance of krill recently.
CapeCodOnline.com

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