A day at the beach turned into a dramatic rescue effort for a crowd revelers at St. Simon Island on Tuesday evening as a pod of pilot whales began beaching themselves on the Georgia coastline. Dozens of onlookers and authorities raced into the water of East Beach at 6pm, in an effort to push back the 25-or-so whales back to deeper waters. Some rescuers continued to swim out deeper with the whales, pushing them up by the St. Simon Island’s pier. George added that pilot whales travel in large groups and are very friendly and social creatures. Pilot whales are the species most commonly involved in mass strandings, according to George, as a result of their highly sociable nature.

Source: Daily Mail July 17, 2019 13:52 UTC