Anglesey: Dolphin found dead after pod of six became stranded on North Wales beach

A dolphin was found dead  after a pod of six became stranded on a beach. The common dolphins were found at Valley on the island of Anglesey in North Wales on Wednesday (January 31).

Cemaes Bay Coastguard was called out to assist volunteers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, who had spent "the whole day" helping the six mammals. The dolphins were eventually able to swim back out to sea with the evening high tide.

However, they said, one of the adult dolphins with an old healed wound where it had lost its dorsal fin some time ago appeared to be underweight and struggled in the water once they were swimming again.

A dolphin can live out of the water for hours if it is kept wet and cool. One of the biggest dangers to a dolphin being out of water is their inability to regulate their body temperature and the weight of their bodies can cut off oxygen to their organs.

They said: "The pod was monitored by volunteers from the safety of the shore and a vet also attended the scene. Two dolphins disappeared in the early afternoon on high tide and could not be located, while the remaining four stayed close to shore.

"At around 4.40pm the team became anxious they would restrand on the outgoing tide and so a few Medics entered the shallows to help redirect them out to open water. The group finally turned seaward and headed out of sight into deeper water shortly afterwards.

"This morning, 1 February, one of the pair of dolphins that disappeared earlier on in the incident was sadly found deceased nearby. It will be collected for a post mortem examination with our colleagues at the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme."