Research urged into ‘troubling and tragic’ Cape Cod dolphin strandings; 10 more believed in danger

By Colin A. Young, Globe Correspondent

A Massachusetts congressman today called the recent string of more than 100 dolphin strandings on Cape Cod “troubling and tragic” and urged an investigation into the cause, even as an animal welfare group said another 10 dolphins were in danger.

“Dolphins are recognized as intelligent creatures and something troubling and tragic is occurring in Massachusetts’ waters and on her beaches,” US Representative Edward Markey said in a statement. “That’s why we need to give our best scientists and rescuers all the resources they need so they can apply their intelligence to discovering the cause of these deaths and save as many dolphins as is possible.”

Markey and US Representative William Keating, a fellow Massachusetts Democrat, co-hosted a briefing for members of Congress and their staffs on the strandings by animal welfare officials today in Washington.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, the International Fund for Animal Welfare said another 10 dolphins were in danger of stranding themselves in the Cape Cod town of Wellfleet this morning.

“It is still a very fluid situation,” Michael Booth, spokesman for the group, said this morning. “The team has collected two animals; they are still working to find out if the other animals were able to swim out or if they stranded.”

This afternoon, Booth said three dolphins had stranded themselves. Two died; the one survivor is a pregnant female, Booth said. The mother-to-be will likely be released at Herring Cove near Provincetown later today.

Booth said the strandings happened at Mayo Beach and near Blackfish Creek in Wellfleet.

“The team is looking at five other dolphins swimming within the harbor. We believe they might have been part of the original 10,” Booth said. “The tide is coming in, so they’re in better shape, but we’re keeping our eyes on them.”

Since mid-January, at least 114 dolphins have been stranded. The animal welfare group has been able to rescue and successfully release 30 into deeper water. The group said that if the strandings of the common dolphins are considered as a single event, it was the largest single-species stranding on record in the northeastern United States.

The group’s manager of marine mammal rescue and research, Katie Moore, went to Washington to brief members of Congress.

On Jan. 19, Keating and Senator John Kerry also sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, asking for assistance in finding the cause of the strandings.