Rescuers Transporting 3 Beached Whales Back To Deep Water

REDINGTON BEACH, FL — Clearwater Marine Aquarium staff and other agencies are struggling to rescue a pod of short-finned pilot whales that beached themselves on Redington Beach.

Biologists from the aquarium and the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission arrived on the scene at Monday at 7 a.m., quickly setting up canopies to shield the whales' sensitive skin from the sun.

It appears the five distressed whales beached themselves in the early morning. This normally occurs when one or more whales are sick. Since pilot whales are social animals, if one gets sick and attempts to beach itself, the others will follow, explained CMA spokesperson Carlee Wendell.

The rescuers spent the day monitoring the whales' vitals and keeping them calm before deciding in the afternoon to transport three of the larger adult whales back out into the ocean and take the two younger whales to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's facility in Tarpon Springs, where scientists will try to diagnose and treat them.

The adult males have been tagged so rescuers can track their location and reunite them with the younger whales when they recover.