Frantic bid to save scores of beached dolphins in Ibaraki

Good on the people trying to help.

TBS News is now reporting that the weaker animals that cannot be saved will be euthanised.

It's great to see the locals pitching in to try to save them.

I am watching on the news, and the locals (maybe a few hundred) are working very hard to save them. It would make a lot of Japanese haters (who judge one village) proud to see these volunteers.

This is one thing that is also great in Japan. Their love for these endangered animals.

It is wonderful to to have the locals helping out the coast guard filled with passion and positivity in reaching out to save the dolphins.

Nobody really knows why mass beachings like this happen, but the last time the melon-headed whales did this was about a week before the tsunami.

On the same beach! Let's hope it's nothing.

It's a protest about Taiji.

I doubt that this has anything to do with another quake - according to reports some of the whales have deep cuts on them... it's entirely possible that some of them have been injured by... something, headed for safety and the whole pod got stranded. Either way, it's an upsetting sight to see so many stranded... I just hope that they can save the majority of them.

In my opinion, they were definitely escaping from an earthquake. But the question is what kind of earthquake it was/is. There are lots of so-called seaquakes that happen in the ocean and do not influence earth and as far as I understand dolphins, for example, can get seriously injured due to the changes in water pressure and so on during the seaquake, so they try to escape. Of course, the other option would be that they're running from the earthquake. Yes, indeed, a similar think happened in Kashima, Ibaraki 5 days before the tsunami which is like an hour ride down south from Hokota. HOWEVER, a similar thing happened to dolphins that beached in Tokyo bay in 2001 in February, and there was no tsunami or major earthquake afterwards. At least newspaper articles about that still remain if you google it.

What about the cuts and lacerations to some of them?

Surprising that the Taiji folks are not there trying to cull the poor animals. Talk about hypocrisy! The actions of these people in trying to save their lives is "normal", Taji folks are abnormal to say the least.

I was watching it on TV tonight, they were working hard to save the ones they could. It was great of all of them to pitch in like that.

I'm not an expert folks, but there is scientific evidence that whales and other marine life get injured when submarines and other ships blast powerful sonar and radio communications beneath the surface.

In oceanography class, the professor discussed a "so-far" zone, at a lower depth in the sea. At the so-far zone, is an ideal water pressure to pass communication literally hundreds of miles, for both whales that use echolocation and submarines. However, the closer a whale is to a submarine, the higher chance their ear drums will get damaged.

Meanwhile, just like humans, whales use their sense of hearing to balance and swim straight. Unbalance in the ear drum is what gives us vertigo. When a pod of whales like this all get confused it once, there is almost no doubt there was some sort event that emitted a shockwave or sonar blast capable of damaging all of their ear drums. That also explains the cuts as they are no longer able to swim straight and may have dashed their bodies against rocks on the sea floor.

Use your search engine with words "submarine sonar whale". This is nothing new, just usually not reported because usually it's only a few whales at a time, not 150.

I am watching on the news, and the locals (maybe a few hundred) are working very hard to save them. It would make a lot of Japanese haters (who judge one village) proud to see these volunteers.

Yes, one can be proud of them.

I hope will nothing happened.... Some reason push them out....

Take note Sea Sheperds and consorts! Japan isn't as dolphin/whale hostile as you want to make it look!