{"id":592131,"date":"2026-08-13T15:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T15:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/592131\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T15:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T15:24:10","slug":"locals-mount-dramatic-rescue-operation-after-dolphins-stranded-on-kerry-gaeltacht-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/592131\/","title":{"rendered":"Locals mount dramatic rescue operation after dolphins stranded on Kerry Gaeltacht beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Seo alt \u00f3n\u00e1r bhfoireann Gaeltachta. Is f\u00e9idir an bunleagan as Gaeilge a l\u00e9amh anseo<\/a>)<\/p>\n

VOLUNTEERS CAME TO the rescue of dolphins stranded on a Gaeltacht beach in West Kerry on Wednesday, an official with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has confirmed.<\/p>\n

Stephen Comerford, the IWDG\u2019s offshore renewable energy officer, responded after the group received a call on its emergency line indicating that dolphins had been left stranded on Tr\u00e1 na Feothana\u00ed in west Kerry\u2019s Corca Dhuibhne.<\/p>\n

The stranded animals were of the common dolphin species and are a different species to bottlenose dolphin.\u00a0 The common dolphin feeds in deep ocean waters while the bottlenose swims closer to shore in search of food.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually I work at a desk but I give whatever help I can and, as I live in D\u00fan Chaoin, when the call came that dolphins had come ashore at Tr\u00e1 na Feothanach, I rushed along with others from the group to the beach which is not far from my home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"772178536_1080327347827495_1858493441766477725_n\"
\n Beached dolphins should be removed in slings or on stretchers like this. Irish Whale and Dolphin Group<\/p>\n

Irish Whale and Dolphin Group<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we arrived at the beach, there were twelve animals there, and there were five calves as well \u2013 but all the young dolphins were already dead by that point and four adult dolphins were dead, so there were eight remaining with a chance of survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comerford explained that many people were making their way to the beach by that stage \u2013 people with specific experience and equipment to help get the dolphins back out to sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing in these cases is that everything remains calm and that there is no panic or shouting that would put stress on the dolphins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lot of help, a lot of responders, some people from the community, tourists and a couple of Garda\u00ed as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway, with stretchers and with effort, and a lot of strong people, we managed to get the animals \u2013 eight of them at any rate \u2013 back into the water afloat. They responded well and began swimming in the right direction out to sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t always happen \u2013 sometimes they come back around in a circle to the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WhatsApp
\n The dophins managed to reorient themselves and then swam out to sea. Nick Massett<\/p>\n

Nick Massett<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

He said a number of dolphins, one adult and three calves, had already been put to sea by local man, Kevin Flannery, a marine biologist who heads up the Dingle Aquarium, who originally raised the alarm. So all told twelve dolphins were rescued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said people had been keeping watch on the beach since then in case they came back again, but they had not been seen since.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese stranding events are increasing and the reason for that is that these dolphins are an oceanic species \u2013 a species that lives in the deep waters of the open sea \u2013 but for whatever reason, and we are almost certain it relates to a lack of food and climate change, they are spending more time closer to the shore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunately the case, however, that they are not well adapted to swimming like this close to the coast, and what happens is that they come in looking for fish in shallow water and they are feeding away, everything is fine, and then the tide starts going out and they are trapped, caught behind a sandbank and unable to escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would never happen to a bottlenose dolphin that spends its time closer to the coast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comerford praised and thanked all the people who came to help on this occasion. \u201cThis is a huge voluntary effort and people give their time in conditions that are physically difficult and, in many ways, emotionally difficult, to help these animals and they deserve all the credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gave advice to people on what should be done if they come across stranded dolphins or whales on a beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cStay calm, don\u2019t be shouting or roaring or doing anything to put additional stress on them \u2013 they are under stress as it is. Don\u2019t let dogs near them, keep them cool and wet and keep them upright \u2013 if they lie on their side, that puts pressure on their lungs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also advised against pulling them by the tail or the fin as that can dislocate bones.<\/p>\n

He said the first thing to do if someone comes across a stranding like this on a beach is to call the group\u2019s emergency line, 097 28118, which is always manned.<\/p>\n

He also said the IWDG runs courses to train people in the best way to help in stranding situations.<\/p>\n

The Journal\u2019s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.<\/p>\n

This article was originally written in the reporter\u2019s native Irish and has been translated to English here. AI was used as part of the translation process before final edits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Seo alt \u00f3n\u00e1r bhfoireann Gaeltachta. Is f\u00e9idir an bunleagan as Gaeilge a l\u00e9amh anseo) VOLUNTEERS CAME TO the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[250348,250349,187893,250350,27384,250351,15338,15339,61,60,1974,82,263],"class_list":["post-592131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-beach-emergency","tag-comhairle","tag-corca-dhuibhne","tag-deilfeanna","tag-dolphins","tag-eigeandail-mara","tag-gaeilge","tag-gaeltacht","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-whale-and-dolphin-group","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}