France reports 910 dolphins washed up on Atlantic coast

BORDEAUX: At least 910 dolphins have washed up on France´s Atlantic coast since the start of the winter, an oceanographic institute reported on Friday.

Over the past week alone, more than 400 of the marine mammals were found stranded along the coast, an “unprecedented” number, the Pelagis oceanographic observatory based in the western city of La Rochelle said in a report. The figures were still provisional, it added.

Early examinations of the dolphins showed that some of them had been dead for days, and others for several weeks. Most of them showed injuries consistent with being caught in fishing nets, other fishing equipment or boat engines.