Over 250 dolphins dead in Cape Verde: official

Yahoo News 20 Nov 07

More than 250 dolphins were beached and died late last week on Boa Vista, one of the islands of the Cape Verde archipelago, the country's maritime administrator said on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately 265 dolphins perished," Nadir Almeida told AFP, adding it was too late to save them by the time they were discovered.

The dolphins died overnight Thursday.

"We think that they spent several hours without being noticed," he said. "We could not do anything," he said.

He said 65 other dolphins were washed ashore on Monday on the same island but "efforts by private individuals and authorities helped save the animals."

Experts say there are times whole groups of dolphins are washed for unknown reasons from the ocean onto the beach, and they can only be saved through human intervention.