A total of 16 whales have died after being stranded on the east coast of Scotland. Ten others were refloated after being kept alive by vets from British Divers and Marine Life Rescue. The incident between Anstruther and Pittenweem in Fife involved pilot whales, each of them approximately 20ft (6m) long. The whales that survived will be monitored for the next 24 hours to see if they re-beach.
Forth coastguard were alerted to the incident at about 07:00 BST on Sunday. Three of the whales that died were calves. The incident drew a large number of bystanders to the scene, prompting the coastguard to urge the public to stay away to allow rescue teams to carry out their duties.
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Coastguard teams from St Andrews and Leven, Anstruther lifeboat, and Fife Police assisted with the incident. A further 24 pilot whales, thought to be from the same pod, were spotted in shallow water about three miles away at Cellardyke. They have been monitored for signs that they are in danger of stranding.
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When ill or injured a whale that cannot get its breath may panic and will beach itself to try and breath. The rest of the pod will follow the distressed whale onto the beach knowing the risk, unwilling for one to suffer alone, they love each other that much.
Hundreds of people show up to help and the authorities call them "bystanders" and tell them to shove off. In the video the men on the beach were short handed and could have used the hundreds of volunteers for a bucket brigade to keep the whales wet and cool till the tide turned. Many more whales could have been saved and the nice people would have worked their asses off and been proud of it the rest of their lives.
The oceans have suffered devastating pollution assaults these last few years. I stopped eating seafood over a year ago because its just not safe, the whales don't have that option. The whales are telling us something...