Examinations of the carcasses of three pilot whales yielded no immediate answers to why they swam ashore and died on a popular beach in Georgia, state wildlife officials said Thursday.
Those were the only confirmed deaths after dozens of disoriented pilot whales on July 16 appeared perilously close to the shore of St. Simons Island, about 70 miles south of Savannah. Vacationers joined lifeguards and wildlife crews in the water to keep most of the whales from becoming stranded on the beach.
Necropsies performed on the dead whales found no wounds from boat collisions, ingested plastics or other obvious injuries that might point to why they beached themselves, said Clay George, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
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