8 dolphins have died after being washed ashore on a beach in New Jersey

The Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Center said eight dolphins died after they washed ashore in New Jersey on Tuesday.

A pod of dolphins washed ashore near the beaches of 50th and 52nd Streets in Sea Isle City, located about 20 miles south of Atlantic City on the New Jersey coast, Tuesday morning, officials said. Police and community service crews poured sea water on the dolphins for hours to keep them alive, CBS Philadelphia reports.

Two dolphins had already died when workers from the Marine Mammal Capture Center arrived on the scene.

“The remaining six dolphins were examined by our veterinarian and were rapidly deteriorating,” the Marine Mammal Research Center wrote on Facebook. “The decision was made to humanely euthanize the dolphins to prevent further suffering, as returning them to the ocean would only prolong their inevitable death.”

All eight dolphins have been taken to a lab where an autopsy will be performed.

Their deaths come less than a week after two other dolphins, an adult and a calf, died after being stranded near another beach in New Jersey. Two dolphins were stranded on a sandbar in Sandy Hook Bay last Wednesday, the Marine Mammal Center said. The adult had already died when rescuers arrived, and the team worked to secure the calf on a stretcher and lift the dolphin to a nearby pier.

“After a veterinary examination, it was determined that the young dolphin is in an extremely weakened condition and cannot survive,” the Center for Marine Mammal Research wrote on Facebook. “The decision was made to humanely euthanize the animal to prevent further suffering.”

The death of the dolphins comes after at least nine whales have died off the coast of New Jersey and New York since December 2022.