Dead Whales Found On Rutland Island November 8, 2010 by lukesheppard

33 Whales have been found dead off the coast of County Donegal. Environmentalists are trying to establish how the whales beached and dies on Rutland Island on Saturday. It’s believed that the group of Whales were the same that were spotted in October un the Outer Hebrides. This is one of the largest mass whale deaths in Irish History according to Dr Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Berrow has shown concern that the Royal Navy sonar equipment may have played a role in the deaths. He said:

“Thirty or fourty pilot whales were seen off the Outer Hebrides at South Uist last week.” “It looked like they were going to strand. It was bad weather. They were not seen again.”

A spokeswoman from the Royal Navy has said that the closest navy ship to the whales which were seen near South Uist was 50 miles away, so the sonar equipment from that distance could not have affected them. However, in America, after a judge favoured campaigners who argued sonar devices harmed marine mammals in the area, the US Navy were ordered not to use mid-frequency sonar equipment from 2007 and 2009 during training exercises. Investigations by a team from the Glaway/Mayo Institute of Technology have been underway at the scene off Donegal.