Dolphins saved, whale dies

UPDATE: 12 p.m.

Residents of a Newfoundland island have managed to pluck five dolphins out of thick pack ice and carry them to open water, but a humpback whale has died after becoming trapped in ice in a nearby cove.

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

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UPDATE: 10 a.m.

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.

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ORIGINAL: 8:30 a.m.

Residents of a small Newfoundland island tried to carry several dolphins out of thick ice, others watched as a humpback whale was stuck in the icy water.

A hand full of people lifted seven dolphins, one by one, out of the ice, onto a tarp and into a truck to take them to open water.

Wayne Ledwell of the Whale Release and Strandings group says the ice was too thick to navigate with an icebreaker to free the whale that was trapped on Friday. He said they tried everything, but couldn't euthanize it.

Town manager Margie Hopkins  said that people tried to reach the whale today, but had no success because of blizzard-like conditions.

 A few residents have reported that the whale may have died overnight.

-with files from CTV