Thirty pilot whales have returned to deeper sea levels after getting stuck in shallow water in Gordon Pass in Collier County, Fla., NBC television affiliate NBC-2 reported Monday.
"They look like their very inactive. They're not moving much. They seem to be distressed a little bit in their swimming pattern. [It's] just very not normal for this area," Chip Shumway, a Naples resident told NBC-2. "It's sad. It's hard to watch, but curiosity always seems to get the better of you," Shumway told NBC-2
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association was notified of the endangered pilot whales close to 1 p.m. Sunday NBC-2 reported. Gordon Pass is currently not open NBC-2 reported.
The Whales were found while the ocean was in low tide. The whales entered the Pass, and vigorously attempted to battle the waves, and escape.
Officials found two laying on a sandbar NBC-2 reported. or a piece of land above the surface of the water according to the definition in Merriam Webster's online dictionary. The rest attempted to navigate eight to 12 feet of water, a difference from the whale's normal 30 miles surroundings NBC-2 reported.
"No. I've never seen anything like this," Kim Donahue, another Naples resident told NBC-2.
"I was about to dash over there and go see them very close because they beached themselves on that little beach there. But then one of the biologists got them off and got them back in the water. Then the whole group made their way around and joined up with the other group," Donahue told NBC-2.
The whales travel in groups, and do not leave each other behind NBC-2 reported.
"We always have hope," Bruce Neill, executive director at Sanibel School told NBC-2. "I hope they'll get off," Neill told NBC-2. "But who knows, it's one of those challenging things we find throughout the world that sometimes there is success, but many times it doesn't end well," Neill told NBC-2.
