Mystery of dolphin river deaths

More than 25 dolphins died in the worst mass stranding in the UK for nearly 30 years. Experts are tying to determine what caused the death of more than a score of dolphins in a river in Cornwall in southwest England.

Rescuers helped 7 dolphins back out to sea but 26 died with two so poorly they had to be put to sleep. The dolphins appeared to have been well-fed and there were no signs they had been poisoned or had a disease. Marine experts are continuing to search the area near the Percuil River in case there are more dolphins in trouble.

The problem could be worse if other dolphins were attracted to the river by the distress calls of the stranded dolphins. British Divers' Marine Life Rescue charity spokesman Tony Woodley said that this was the biggest mass stranding of marine life in the UK for many years. They haven't seen a stranding anywhere near this scale since 1981 when pilot whales were beached on the east coast.

This is extremely rare & the dolphin deaths possibilities could be due to they were chasing fish and got caught out by low tide, or they were scared by something so they swam up to the river, or they were confused by ships' navigation soundwave.