Rescuers try to free dolphins trapped in thick ice as whale also remains stuck

Residents of a Newfoundland island have managed to pluck at least three dolphins out of thick pack ice and carry them to open water, even as hope fades for a humpback whale trapped in a cove not far away.

The dolphins had become trapped in a small bay near St. John's that had frozen over.

Lisa Gear said about 25 people were involved in the rescue effort that involved venturing out onto the ice off Bell Island, freeing the dolphins from the ice, placing them onto a tarp stretcher, loading them on a truck and then releasing them into an ice-free body of water nearby.

Despite a blizzard that was raging around them, she said that as of midday Monday they had successfully freed three of what are believed to be white-beaked dolphins. There were roughly five others after 11 were initially spotted over the weekend. Gear said one dolphin died during a rescue attempt, while two others disappeared and are believed to have died.

"There were only about eight still alive this morning," she said from her home after returning from the scene, where volunteers were working on freeing the fourth.

"It's really heartbreaking ... but there's a huge community involvement. It's unbelievable now the people who are pitching in and coming out."

Gear said her husband had checked on the dolphins about four times Sunday night and then again Monday morning after they had been discovered late Saturday. She said they could hear the sound of the dolphins' laboured breathing Sunday evening.

Wabana Mayor Gary Gosine said the island had experienced unusually thick ice that had also slowed the ferry that services the island. He said it's been about seven years since they've seen ice so much in the area.

"I've never seen anything like this before," he said about the trapped dolphins.

Thick ice had also trapped a large humpback whale in Cook's Cove near Old Perlican, N.L.

Wayne Ledwell of the Whale Release and Strandings group says the ice was too thick to navigate with an icebreaker to free the whale after it became trapped Friday, adding that they also couldn't euthanize it. He said the roughly 14-metre adult whale appeared to be having trouble breathing, based on the noise it was making. There was also a lot of blood on the ice where he had become stuck.

Margie Hopkins, Old Perlican's town manager, said people were having trouble reaching the whale Monday because of the blizzard-like conditions, but there were reports from residents that the whale may have died overnight. She said the ice had moved out, but the whale didn't leave.

"There was no ice around him last night," she said. "I'd say he was beached and really fatigued and didn't have what it took to get out of it."

She said the whale was making "eerie" sounds that seemed to indicate it was in distress.

"It was like someone in distress," she said. "It's just a high-piercing, heart-tugging noise. It really sticks to you. It's like a baby whining."

A report from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says there were two instances of large groups of animals becoming trapped and dying in pack ice in 2014 — one involving nine blue whales and the other involving 40 white-beaked dolphins.