A small Newfoundland community joined forces Friday and Saturday to rescue more than 20 dolphins trapped in the ice.
Photos and videos posted online by citizens show more than twenty mammals washed ashore.
As the Mayor of Heart’s Delight-Islington explained to local media, the ice pushed the mammals to shore. The dolphins got stuck between the blocks of ice and the sharp rocks on the beach and injured themselves trying to escape.
“They got stuck on the beach and hit each other,” Melvin Harnum told CBC News, noting the scene was heartbreaking.
To save the dolphins, citizens jumped into the freezing water and tried to put them on sleds to get them out of their predicament. The animals were then transported on trailers to another ice-free area of the bay.
The co-director of the Whale Release and Strandings Group, a Portugal Cove organization that helps marine mammals, told CBC the rescue effort continued through Saturday.
To his knowledge, at least three dolphins have perished along the coast.