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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A dramatic video showing 30 beached dolphins being rescued by beachgoers in Brazil has become an internet sensation. The video shows dolphins appearing out of nowhere and suddenly beaching en masse on the Rio de Janeiro state coastline. They were apparently caught in a strong ocean current.

Stunned beachgoers in swimming trunks at first look on as the dolphins' high-pitched squeals are heard. But within seconds, people quickly race into the surf to help the dolphins. Dozens of people are seen swimming into the ocean and dragging the mammals by their tails in an effort to them back into deeper waters.

And the effort this past Monday was apparently successful. After all the dolphins were rescued, the crowd of dolphin-savers and onlookers broke into cheers.

huffpost

Actualbeach and filmer

filmed by Gerd Traue, Copyright Gerd Traue

About 30 Dolphins stranded and saved by local people at Arraial do Cabo (Brazil) in the morning at 8:00 AM on March 5th 2012.

ANother HuffPost article reveals:

But what would lead seemingly healthy dolphins to swim onto shore? And what causes similar strandings of whales and other animals? “There is no single answer for marine mammal strandings, just as there is no single answer for what causes car crashes or traffic jams,” Dr. Darlene R. Ketten, senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., told The Huffington Post in an email. After viewing the video, she speculated that “the pod may have been feeding very close to shore and then were caught in a strong current or wave area and pushed onto shore by the water…We do see feeding groups getting caught in the shallows in situations similar to this in many locations, and the tendency varies by species, seasons, and circumstances.” Strandings of dolphins and whales are more common than is commonly realized, according to Dr. Ketten–with 1,000 or so animals a year stranding themselves in U.S. coastal waters. Statistics show frequent strandings among seals and turtles as well as marine mammals. Dr. Ketten commended the people who tried to save the dolphins, pointing out that handing dolphins can be risky for both species–especially when the animals thrash wildly, as they do in the video. Overall, she said, it was certainly no “day at the beach.
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