On the beach, a saving race

The dolphin’s dorsal fin was not moving, and many of the rescue team veterans watching across the marsh thought the mammal, stranded in the mud, was dead.

Then they saw a pointy fluke on its tail twitch and heard air shoot through its blowhole. That is when they decided to act, even though the roughly 50 feet of mud separating them from the dolphin was hip deep.

Over the past two days, after local residents discovered 16 Atlantic white-sided dolphins stuck in the mucky marshland areas of Drummer Cove and Lieutenant Island, teams from the International Fund for Animal Welfare have repeatedly donned rubber boots and dry suits and fought their way through the mud to save the dolphins.

Dolphin strandings are not uncommon on the Cape, but they are a mystery, said Michael Moore, a senior research specialist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute who serves as the veterinarian of the Yarmouth Port-based rescue group.

“We wish we understood why they strand so often,’’ he said. “Most of them are healthy. So we do the best we can to save them.’’

By dusk yesterday, the team had saved nine of the stranded dolphins. Four had died before they could be helped, and another had to be euthanized because it was in such bad shape. Two had disappeared and are believed to have made it out to sea on their own.

The federal government has authorized the International Fund to rescue stranded mammals on Cape Cod and the southern coast of Massachusetts. Last year, the group sought to rescue 207 dolphins, and this year it has responded to about 100 strandings, said Katie Moore, director of the group.

She said it remains unclear why so many dolphins get beached or stuck during low tides between January and March. Some suggest it is the hook shape of Cape Cod or the slope of the sea bed. Others cite the tides and the chasing of prey.

“It’s the million-dollar question,’’ she said. “But when the tide goes out in Wellfleet, there’s no water. So they end up high and dry.’’

Before noon Thursday, the team had pulled out six dolphins, a laborious and dirty process that took hours. Each animal was covered with blankets, moistened with buckets of water, had its blood tested, and was injected with steroids and vitamins before being released in the deep waters off Herring Cove near Provincetown.

Team members did not finish their work until after 2 a.m.

Yesterday morning, with the tides rolling out again, they were back at Drummer Cove, where they spotted another three dolphins. They were able to get to two of them, but could not reach one that was swimming in shallow water.

They carried out the pair they could reach onto the beach and then into their trailer, where they went to work helping them to recover and preparing to put them back in the water. Afterward, they used stretchers to carry them to Herring Cove, and the pair swam off together into the late afternoon sun, their tails flapping on the calm surf as they moved into deeper water.

About 4 p.m., the team decided to make one more effort to rescue the last dolphin, which was seemingly inert in the cold, deep mud.

When team members realized the dolphin was alive, several ventured off the beach and immediately sank into thick mud as if it were quicksand.

“Right now, we’re debating what to do,’’ Katie Moore said as she stood on a bluff over the beach watching the dolphins. “It’s dangerous out there. We don’t want any of the rescuers to get hurt.’’

After a few minutes, they decided to push on, and the team brought pieces of plywood to stand on as they worked on the dolphin.

Within an hour, using their hands, they had dug a hole around the animal and pushed its mud-covered body onto a red stretcher. They estimated it weighed about 350 pounds.

“This is about the most difficult conditions to work in,’’ said A.J. Cady, deputy director of the group.

The eight men and women, all splattered with mud, heaved the mammal onto a foam-lined cart they had dragged off the beach. Slowly, they moved the cart and the twitching dolphin onto firmer ground, pushed it up a hill, and brought it into their trailer, where they went to work.

“You guys are the best!’’ shouted one of several neighbors watching.

They cleaned the mud off the dolphin, which seemed exhausted as it lay lethargically on mats. They covered it in a blanket and found buckets of water to make it comfortable. They administered the tests and the drugs.

An hour later, they decided the dolphin was strong enough to make it on its own. They packed up their equipment and headed back to Herring Cove with their charge.

“That’s a lucky dolphin,’’ Cady said.

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.