ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A Newfoundland woman says she was sickened at the sight of nine dead dolphins on the pack ice near her cabin on the province's eastern shoreline.
Ann Ralph says she found the dolphins last weekend when she arrived at the cabin in Sweet Bay, Bonavista Bay.
Ralph says several of the animals had serious injuries or chunks of flesh taken out of them.
''The backs of their heads are banged up,'' says Ralph. ''It was sickening to look out and to think of how they must have suffered.''
She speculated that scavenging animals had gotten to them.
Wayne Ledwell of with Whale Release and Strandings organization says such incidents are fairly common, adding that dolphins aren't built for navigating ice.
''That's just the life that these animals lead,'' says Ledwell, adding that in the span of a month, during some years, more than 10 such incidents have been reported.
Ralph's discovery came about a week after a pod of dolphins was trapped in the harbour at Seal Cove, on the province's northern coast.
