Employees of whale watching companies in Reykjavík, the Icelandic Coast Guard and local ICE-SAR company Ársæll managed to rescue one of the two bottlenose dolphins who stranded yesterday on Engey island, outside the old harbor. The animal was last seen swimming away from the island shortly before nine yesterday evening.
Read more: Fight against time to rescue bottlenose whales stranded on island outside Reykjavík harbor
At one in the afternoon a guide with Special Tours spotted the two bottlenose whales on the rocky shore of Engey island. It is not known why the animals stranded, but bottlenose whales are not a common sight in the area. Edda Elísabet Magnúsdóttir, a marine biologist and whale expert at the University of Iceland told the local newspaper Fréttablaðið that both animals were females, and that they were likely following pray into the shallows when they were caught by the ebbing tide.
Rescuers spent the day in Engey, assisting the whales
Immediately when the animals were spotted employees of Special Tours made their way to Engey to help keep the animals wet and to see if they could be assisted back to the sea.
As the tide was falling, and the whales were far stranded on the rocky shore far from the waters edge it was clear the rescuers would have to wait until the tide coming back in to help the whales back out to water. It was clear from the very start that this was a race against time, as bottlenose whales are not expected to survive more than two hours on land, while high tide was not expected until ten in the evening.
Survived longer than expected
Both of the animals had suffered injuries and cuts on the rocks, losing significant quantities of blood. Before the tide came in one of the whales died. Edda Elísabet told the National Broadcasting Service RÚV that the whales survived longer than expected. Both animals were clearly in shock. The animal that died was in far worse shape than the one that managed to survive Edda told RÚV. She showed clear signs of shock and trauma, thrashing around. The other one which survived was calmer, she paid close attention to us and appeared to be fully conscious of her surroundings.
The animal managed to swim off at shortly after eight in the evening, but appeared to have trouble at some shallows just off the shore of the island. Some of the rescuers followed her on boats, guiding her away from the island and the coast out to sea. The whale was last seen swimming out into Faxaflói bay.
Employees of whale watching companies in Reykjavík, the Icelandic Coast Guard and local ICE-SAR company Ársæll managed to rescue one of the two bottlenose dolphins who stranded yesterday on Engey island, outside the old harbor. The animal was last seen swimming away from the island shortly before nine yesterday evening.
Read more: Fight against time to rescue bottlenose whales stranded on island outside Reykjavík harbor
At one in the afternoon a guide with Special Tours spotted the two bottlenose whales on the rocky shore of Engey island. It is not known why the animals stranded, but bottlenose whales are not a common sight in the area. Edda Elísabet Magnúsdóttir, a marine biologist and whale expert at the University of Iceland told the local newspaper Fréttablaðið that both animals were females, and that they were likely following pray into the shallows when they were caught by the ebbing tide.
Rescuers spent the day in Engey, assisting the whales
Immediately when the animals were spotted employees of Special Tours made their way to Engey to help keep the animals wet and to see if they could be assisted back to the sea.
As the tide was falling, and the whales were far stranded on the rocky shore far from the waters edge it was clear the rescuers would have to wait until the tide coming back in to help the whales back out to water. It was clear from the very start that this was a race against time, as bottlenose whales are not expected to survive more than two hours on land, while high tide was not expected until ten in the evening.
Survived longer than expected
Both of the animals had suffered injuries and cuts on the rocks, losing significant quantities of blood. Before the tide came in one of the whales died. Edda Elísabet told the National Broadcasting Service RÚV that the whales survived longer than expected. Both animals were clearly in shock. The animal that died was in far worse shape than the one that managed to survive Edda told RÚV. She showed clear signs of shock and trauma, thrashing around. The other one which survived was calmer, she paid close attention to us and appeared to be fully conscious of her surroundings.
The animal managed to swim off at shortly after eight in the evening, but appeared to have trouble at some shallows just off the shore of the island. Some of the rescuers followed her on boats, guiding her away from the island and the coast out to sea. The whale was last seen swimming out into Faxaflói bay.
