Live torpedo ray rescued by NECWA at Bay View Beach, Dennis, MA

The marine wildlife stranding season is not over yet!

This afternoon, NECWA received a call about a stranded torpedo ray just north of Bay View Beach, Dennis, MA. Laura and Jim, both members of a community walking group, Dennis Beach Walkers, rushed down to the beach and found that the ray was still alive. NECWA volunteers, Krill and Finn were on the way down from off Cape.

Once on-site, Krill did her annual polar plunge and walked the fish back out to deep water. Due to the extensive tidal flats in that area, the fish washed back in, so Krill did another round of polar plunges to finally get the fish into deeper water.

This fish had been stranded out of the water for over 45 minutes and was very weak when the team arrived on-site. But when they picked up the tail stock to get it on the sled, it wiggled and tried to pull its tail back which are all good signs. Fingers crossed that this animal makes it.

Please the NECWA stranding hotline (508-566-0009) if you come upon a stranded torpedo ray. These fish use gills to pull oxygen out of the water so they don't last long when they are high and dry. Also, many animals do not move or stop moving once they strand most probably to conserve energy. So time is of the essence and can support a successful rescue effort.

And pease consider a donation to NECWA (a 501c3 organization) to keep us in the field and able to respond to strandings like this one. Our motto is "every animal counts" and we live by that motto.