The Latest on efforts to keep a group of pilot whales from beaching themselves in Georgia (all times local):
12:55 p.m.
Crews are keeping a close watch on about 30 pilot whales off the Georgia coast a day after the large animals were prevented from swimming ashore and beaching themselves.
Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokesman Rick Lavender said the pod of whales remained offshore Wednesday afternoon. He says the agency had a helicopter watching from the air while a crew from the National Marine Mammal Foundation followed the whales in a boat.
Three pilot whales died after becoming stranded when the pod appeared Tuesday along the beach of St. Simons Island. Wildlife workers, lifeguards and beachgoers kept most of the whales off the shore.
The American Cetacean Society says pilot whales are often involved in mass strandings, partly due to their social nature.
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10:45 a.m.
A state biologist says beachgoers in Georgia helped keep about 30 pilot whales from stranding themselves on the shore.
Clay George with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources says the whales showed up Tuesday afternoon off the beach at St. Simons Island.
Three whales beached themselves and died. But George says onlookers helped authorities wade into the water to prevent most of the whales from reaching shore.
George said harbor pilots Wednesday morning spotted the whales in the nearby shipping channel, where he hoped they would follow the tide out to sea.
George says the whales were likely confused as they normally stay more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) offshore. The American Cetacean Society says pilot whales are often involved in mass strandings partly due to their social nature.