More Than 50 Whales Washed Up on a Beach in Scotland

Beached whales aren't an incredibly rare occurrence, but a mass beaching event—such as one in Scotland on July 16—is a once-in-a-generation tragedy. 

A pod of 55 pilot whales washed ashore at Traigh Mhor beach on the Isle of Lewis off the northwest coast of Scotland over the weekend. Only 15 of the marine mammals were alive when they got to the shore. Of those, nearly all of them were euthanized for their welfare. 

It's the highest number of deaths following a mass stranding event for animals in the U.K. in at least 70 years, per the BBC. The U.K.'s National History Museum reports that the largest U.K. stranding happened in 1927 when 126 out of more than 130 false killer whales washed ashore and died in the Scottish Highlands. 

"Pilot whale strandings have happened for centuries. It's not necessarily the case that it's because of human impact," Dr. Andrew Brownlow, director of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland. "But that's one of the things we want to try and investigate and rule out—to see whether or not some of the things that can affect these animals such as underwater noise, interaction with fishing gear, accumulation of toxins, or disease may have played a part."

"Although this is pretty grim and a relatively challenging thing to do, you can actually learn a lot from these animals," he added. "From the process of examining these animals we can learn a lot about the threats and pressures that affect not just the animals in our waters but globally. So I think there is some value in doing this." 

He noted that scientists around the world are interested in what his team finds so they can better understand their own cetacean stranding problems. Unfortunately, with the apparent uptick in whale beachings in other parts of the world, these events may become more common in the coming years.