Over 30 false killer whales are currently stranded inside Belize's reef. False killer whales - which are actually dolphins - are usually found in deeper waters, but can get disoriented. According to Clearwater Marine Aquarium's Jamal Galvez, they're stranded in the Drown Caye area and the public is being urged to avoid that area to avoid causing further distress to the animals.
At first, it was believed the animals were pilot whales since, as Galvez explained, pilot whales have frequently gotten stranded inside Belize's reef. They bear a resemblance to the false killer whales, hence the mix-up.
Today, when we spoke with Galvez via Zoom, the clarification had not been made yet. Still, he gave some advice to the public.
Jamal Galvez, Belize Program Director, Clearwater Marine Aquarium
"It's a matter of making the public aware to not have additional pressure on the animals, they're already disoriented, having boats and other activities within the area can also affect the incidents even more. Pilot whales are strong knitted animals, they're very close to their pods and oftentimes it is one whale that is sick, disoriented and the other whales, because they have this strong bond, they follow that whale and so it causes healthy whales to become in that situation."
"If they come in any further, maybe we may intervene by getting boats so that it creates a curtain that pushes them back into deeper waters and hopefully they make their way out and the pod may continue along their journey. But oftentimes that's not the case, they will go to other countries and the stranding will continue. We don't know which specific animal is injured or sick, we haven't looked at that detail, we're just looking from a distance at the moment and we're hoping that they're going to figure it out themselves and so until then, we ask the public to just be aware of this stranding and just give them their space, avoid that area if you can and if you do see them please report it because the pod will travel, it won't be in the same location, it may move south, it may move north and we want to make sure we're keeping track of where this pod is."
Sightings can be reported to 615-3838.
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