Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Ten whales have died off the coast of Florida after close to 50 whales were stranded at the Highland Beach area of the Everglades National Park Tuesday.
Of the ten whales, six were found dead and four had to be euthanized. Biologists, park rangers and volunteers are working to push the other whales back into deeper waters before low tides return and they get stuck again.
"Many of the survivors may be suffering from dehydration and malnutrition, and they need to make it at least 20 miles to reach waters deep enough to support them", said Blair Mase, Southeast regional director for NOAA.
The whales are swimming freely around the area and biologists said that the whales will only move in a group and have a strong sentiment to stay together among the group. Another issue worrying biologists is the presence of sandbars between where the whales are and the gulf and could slow down the process of getting the whales to deeper waters.
But optimism is low about getting the group out in time.
"It's not a good sign that they're staying so close," said Linda Friar, a spokeswoman for the park. "They have plenty of water to swim in. They really should've gone ahead and moved out, so that's not a good sign."
[CBS Miami] [NBC News]
