Up to 100 Dolphins have beached themselves in the Florida Keys. Does anyone know where Elian was found? Was he found in the Florida Keys?

Will this story become part of the Elian Legend?

I can just see the headline:

"Dolphins Die Trying to Reach Boy Savior."

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Up to 100 Dolphins Beached in Florida Keys

Updated 3:00 PM ET January 17, 2000 By Michael Connor MIAMI (Reuters) - An estimated 75 to 100 bottlenose dolphins have beached themselves along jagged shores in the Florida Keys and as many as 25 have died, marine police said on Monday.

Some dolphins were injured by rocks and sharp coral as they came ashore overnight along Long Key or thrashed in shallow waters, wildlife officials said.

Other strandings involving fewer dolphins had been reported at two other spots in the Keys, a string of narrow islands south of Miami, according to spokesman Stephen Acton of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

No cause for the beachings, similar to one involving more than 100 dolphins in 1999, had been determined. A cause was not likely to be uncovered until detailed physical examinations now underway on some dead animals had been completed, Acton said.

Bottlenosed dolphins normally live 40 miles (65 km) or more offshore but have been known to head for the coast when one or more in a group falls ill.

"This is an unusually large number of animals to be involved in something like this," Acton said. "It could be from a bacterial or viral infection or some bad water."

Dozens of aquatic experts in black wetsuits, neighborhood volunteers, divers, and police rescue workers were working at Long Key to treat the sick animals and persuade the others to return to safe waters.

Many dolphins had returned to open waters, he said.

But some 25 to 30 of the sleek, light-colored dolphins remained in a deep pool off the small town of Layton on Long Key, Acton said. Some were sick but most were unharmed and were even taking food from the rescuers, he said.

"A lot of the healthy animals won't leave because of the sick ones. They keep responding to the sounds of the sick ones squealing, chirping and popping," he said.

Acton said the rescuers were planning to move the sick animals to a tank at a nearby aquatic research center outside the hearing of the other dolphins in a bid to encourage the healthy ones to swim out to safer waters.