More dolphins washed ashore near Tokyo for 2nd straight day

Tokyo, April 4

Several more dolphins were found washed ashore and stranded on a beach near Tokyo on Tuesday, a day after dozens were found stranded in the same place.

At around 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, eight melon-headed whale dolphins were found by officials and others along the coastline of Isumi and Ichinomiya in Chiba prefecture on the Pacific coast, reports Xinhua news agency.

The officials said four of the mammals were likely to be dead, with the remaining others were believed to be in a weakened state.

A total of 33 adult dolphins, each around two meters long, were found on the same coastline on Monday, stretching around 500 meters.

Three of them were subsequently confirmed dead, according to local officials and media.

"They may have weakened from swimming too close to the coast where the water is cold," Yukio Miyauchi, head of the Choshi Ocean Institute in Chiba, was quoted as saying on Monday.

This breed of dolphin, experts say, is usually found in tropical to subtropical waters at this time of year and then tends to head north for food in spring.

According to local media, surfers in the area helped return the surviving dolphins back into deeper waters on Tuesday.

Samples were collected from the dolphins that had expired by the National Museum of Nature and Science for analysis, representatives of the museum said.

Efforts were made on Monday morning to encourage the dolphins to return to deeper water, an employee at a local surf shop said.

But the melon-headed whale dolphins continued to return to the shallow shore, where they were struggling to breathe on the beach, the employee who helped with the rescue said.