Video: 16 stranded dolphins rescued in Cape Cod

Sixteen dolphins that became trapped in shallow water with a receding tide were safely rescued, an animal welfare group said Friday.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare saved the Atlantic white-sided dolphins in Wellfleet Thursday, noting that the area is “a global hotspot for mass strandings of dolphins and small whales.”

The organization then cared for the dolphins on the beach, with health assessments showing that the animals were strong enough for release. They were then transported to a Provincetown beach.

“With the capacity of a full team and many volunteers responding, our team moved each dolphin from the mud flats on a stretcher using our specially designed dolphin cart,” Katie Moore, a spokeswoman for IFAW, wrote on the group’s website. “They were staged on the beach to be triaged and prepared for transport to Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown for release into open water.”

Moore went on to note that although two dolphins were “in guarded condition,” the organization “felt comfortable giving these animals a chance to survive in the wild.”

Moore also noted that two animals were released with satellite tags. While one returned to Cape Cod Bay, which she said is a concern for potential mass stranding, the other was than 30 miles north of Cape Cod as of Friday morning.

“All animals have small yellow dorsal fin tags with our rescue phone number on them,” Moore wrote. “If they are re-sighted at sea or stranded (dead or alive), we ask folks to call our hotline at 508-743-9548.”