Family of six dolphins gets stranded on Welsh beach

A family of six dolphins were saved in a seven-hour rescue mission after being left stranded on a beach in North Wales.

Beach-walkers discovered the half-a-dozen dolphins who had become stranded after the tide went out.

A team of volunteers, animal medics and coastguards spent seven hours keeping the dolphins alive before they could be floated back out to sea.

Rescuers do not know why the dolphins were stuck on the sands at Gorad Beach in Valley, Anglesey - and were shocked at the distressing sight.

Cemaes Bay Coastguard and medics from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue were called to the beach to spend hours looking after the common dolphins.

A Cemaes Bay Coastguard posted on Facebook: 'Something a bit different today.

'We assisted volunteers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Medics who had spent the whole day saving 6 common dolphins that had got stuck on the beach.

'The amazing volunteers spent the whole day monitoring and assisting them until they managed to swim back out to sea with the evening high tide.'

The dolphins are believed to be a family pod. They lay on the sand just yards apart from each other but more than 100 yards from the water's edge after the tide went out.

On land, dolphins are helpless and can die within a few hours or days if they are not rescued or properly looked after.

Most stranded dolphins are on their own, and are often old, sick or wounded.

The stranding is a rare sight - and the coastguard urged people not to try to save the dolphins themselves.