Dozens of Dolphins Die After Becoming Trapped by Ice in Canada

Dozens of dolphins have died after they became trapped by ice in Canada and were forced out of the water.

More than 30 dolphins were swimming in Carbonear, in Newfoundland, when fast moving ice began to close in on them. This caused the animals to strand, which can be fatal. Newfoundland gets a lot of ice cover in the winter.

Wayne Ledwell of non–profit group Whale Release and Strandings told Newsweek: "This has happened many times before here when ice invades us from the north."

Rescuers from Whale Release and Strandings and residents in the area attempted to help as many dolphins as they could. However none of the animals could be saved.

Julia Parsons, a resident who helped rescue efforts, said in a Facebook post that it had been a "sad morning."

"Nature is cruel but it's the circle of life!" she said.

A similar incident occurred just a few weeks ago in Heart's Delight-Islington, another Newfoundland town. Over a dozen dolphins were saved in that instance, but sadly the dolphins this time were not so lucky.

"These animals, they just keep moving with open water, and when they run out of open water they're forced up on shore or in the pack ice, which kills them," Ledwell told CBC.

If out of the water, dolphins only have a few hours before it can become fatal. The animals need to stay wet and cool constantly.

"They took a bunch of them out of Carbonear and put them into clear water in Harbour Grace but then the next day the ice came back in there," Ledwell told the news outlet.

At first, rescuers believed only a few dolphins had become trapped in the ice. But when they began to clear the ice away to prevent it from happening again, they found more dead dolphins.

It isn't certain whether these dolphins and the ones that stranded earlier this month are part of the same pod, CBC reported.

Marine mammal strandings are common and can happen for a variety of reasons.

Often, there is not much that rescuers can do, especially if it occurs in remote areas. Stranded animals that return to the water become disorientated, and often strand again shortly afterwards.

In this case, even if rescuers were able to get closer to the pod as they were stranded, the sea ice would make it too dangerous for them, CBC reported.

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