Robert Lange of Pictou County snaps a photo of a dolphin that washed up along the shoreline in Big Island, N.S. on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016.
Robert Lange says he was driving home last week when he noticed a pod of dolphins splashing in the Merigomish Harbour.
"The dolphins were swimming very close to shore here and when I stopped and looked closer with the binoculars, there was a pod of maybe a dozen or more swimming very close together," said Lange. "The fins were all out of the water and the tide was very low with the supermoon."
Robert Lange of Pictou County snaps a photo of a dolphin that washed up along the shoreline in Big Island, N.S. on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016.
One of the animals died that night and another washed ashore the next morning.
The dolphins appear to be trapped by geography. At one end, Merigomish Harbour has a wide opening between Big Island and the Mainland, but it narrows significantly and closes at the other end.
"We assume that these ones were probably chasing a school of fish, and got up here and got out of the channel and into the shallow water and couldn't get back," said Lange.
Lange found a third Sunday afternoon. Within minutes, he was in contact with authorities.
"We've discovered this one in the same spot as the first one was found," said Lange.
Andrew Reid with the Marine Animal Response Society says the presence of the third body means the dolphin pod itself may still be in the harbour.
"It will be really important to do a good survey of that harbor (and) confirm that there's no remaining animals in there," said Reid. "For the animal that just washed up (Sunday), we'll do further sampling, do a necropsy, and see if this was a healthy animal or not."
Reid expects to be back in the area within the next few days. In the meantime, Lange will continue his shoreline patrols.
Comment: See also: Two dolphins dead after stranding in Nova Scotia, Canada