The Public have been asked to stay away from the site at Tresness in Sanday where the mass stranding of whales has resulted in the deaths of 77 pilot whales

OIC Environmental Health are warning that there are public health implications as the animals decay. An update will be issued as to what is to happen with the bodies.

On Thursday 11 July 2024 at about 10:45am, British Divers Marine Life Rescue received a report of a mass stranding of long-finned pilot whales, Sanday, Orkney. BDMLR’s regional team was immediately mobilised with response equipment.

 77 animals were high up the beach and had been there for some time before they were discovered. Only 12 of them were still alive, however, as attempts to return them to the sea failed, the decision was taken to euthanise them. This was because of the long time they had been stranded  resulting in crush injury from their own weight and the high likelihood that they have inhaled water with the incoming tide. 

The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) will attempt to recover as many bodies as possible for post-mortem sampling and examination to try to determine the circumstances of stranding. This is currently unknown as there are no obvious indications as to why they all stranded today, and it may be some time before full results are available due to the huge task of conducting these examinations.

The charity organisation state on their website ” would like to thank all of our volunteer Marine Mammal Medics who attended this incident along with members of the local community for their efforts in these distressing circumstances. Thank you also to all of our supporters who have been sending their heartfelt sentiments to the team, as well as SMASS and other colleagues in the background who have been assisting our rescue coordinators and vets with technical support too.”