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October 1, 2013 at 3:48 am #573MikeKeymaster
— In pac-pc@yahoogroups.com, “bcolemanconroy8”
<bcolemanconroy8> wrote:
This is the 3rd dolphin die-off this year; the over 350 Elk that
died in northern US; the farm and woodland animals in eastern US.Could the gov’t please just send up a few canaries. They’d fall like
flies.We are in big trouble gang.
Thirty dolphin euthanized after Friday’s beachings
Rachel Harris
Sunday, August 8, 2004Scientists early Saturday euthanized 30 dolphin that beached near
the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, despite earlier efforts of
volunteer rescuers to push them to deeper waters.Six, however, were saved and taken to the Harbor Branch
Oceanographic Institution, where they were being given fluid
Saturday evening as scientists fought dehydration.“A lot of these animals were in the process of dying already,” said
Gregory Bossart, director of marine mammal research and conservation
at Harbor Branch, a private ocean research facility north of Fort
Pierce.The dolphin ran aground Friday afternoon about 4 miles south of the
power plant.Volunteers covered them with wet towels to keep them cool and
returned them to the water, but the dolphin beached again at about 8
p.m. Friday.Saturday morning, beachgoers near the south jetty of the Fort Pierce
Inlet watched nervously after they spotted another dolphin in
shallow waters.It swam half the length of a football field and leapt into the air.
It lingered for more than three hours, dangerously close to shore.Onlookers couldn’t help but wonder if it was just the first dolphin
in another mass stranding.A team of Harbor Branch rescuers believed the single dolphin was
likely a stray from Friday’s group.They arrived at the Fort Pierce beach about 1:30 p.m. and decided to
try to bring it ashore for transfer to Harbor Branch.“He doesn’t have anything to eat here,” said Marilyn Mazzoil, Harbor
Branch’s dolphin research director. “He’s trying to find his group,
but he could just stay out there until he starves.”Two rescuers moved into the surf to try to force the dolphin ashore,
but it evaded their attempts.When a thunderstorm swept over the beach, they aborted the mission,
at least temporarily.“We’ve got our ambulance on standby,” said Steve McCulloch,
executive director of Harbor Branch’s marine mammal division.By Saturday evening, the dolphin had moved to deeper water, but
Mazzoil said it would very likely move toward the beach again.“When you find a deep-dwelling species like this so close to shore,
they’re here for a reason,” she said. “Something’s not right.”The scientists expect results today of preliminary blood tests of
the six captive dolphin.If the animals’ health appears stable, they likely will be divided
into two groups and taken to the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota
and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which have more space for
rehabilitation, said Jan Petri, a Harbor Branch spokesman.Two of the animals appeared sicker Saturday than the rescuers first
thought, quivering in the rehabilitation pool at Harbor Branch.They improved, but Bossart cautioned that “we could lose all of them
overnight.They’re just in a very guarded state right now, and we’re just
taking it hour by hour.”Of the dolphin euthanized, 20 bodies were sent for necropsy at a
state-run marine mammal pathobiology lab in St. Petersburg, Bossart
said.The other ten were sent to Sea World in Orlando.
“It could be weeks, or even months, before we know why these animals
were stranded,” McCulloch said.Any mass stranding is unique, Bossart said, but strandings of rough-
toothed dolphin are almost unheard of.The animals prefer deep water and are rarely spotted swimming close
to beaches.Bossart said he thinks strandings in recent years may have been
caused by human activity.“We’ve been treating our oceans like a toilet for years, and maybe
we’re finally seeing the results,” he said.Friday’s stranding came less than a month after a rare beaked whale,
also a deep-dwelling species, beached near the St. Lucie Inlet.It died in captivity a day later at Harbor Branch.
Bossart, Harbor Branch’s director of marine mammal research,
believes Friday’s stranding might have been initiated by a single
sick dolphin that led the group ashore.“If the leader for some reason is sick and can’t guide the group,
they may follow this animal to the beach,” he said. “They don’t know
any better.”During Friday’s rescue effort, scientists had trouble finding a
leader in the group.And while many appeared sick, at least a third of the dolphin showed
no signs of illness after the first beaching.Once the dolphin stranded a second time, the scientists knew they
would only continue to swim ashore.“We thought it would be more humane to put them to sleep,” Bossart
said. Volunteers planned to keep an eye out today for Saturday’s
stray dolphin and any others that might come ashore.“I wouldn’t be surprised if there are still some stragglers out
there that will beach in the next few days,” Bossart said. “We just
have to wait and see.”Straggling dolphin rescued onshore
By Rani GuptaMonday, August 09, 2004
An apparent straggler from a pod of dolphin that recently stranded
on South Hutchinson Island was rescued Sunday morning after it came
ashore near South Jetty Park in Fort Pierce.The dolphin, seen swimming close to shore Saturday, was taken to the
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution north of Fort Pierce, said
Jan Petri, a spokesman for the private ocean research facility.It apparently was part of a pod with 36 dolphin stranded Friday
afternoon about 4 miles south of the St. Lucie nuclear power plant.
Although volunteers pushed the animals into deeper water, the
dolphin came ashore again Friday night.POPULAR PAGES Thirty dolphin were euthanized and six were saved.
Those six dolphin, along with the animal rescued Sunday, were
scheduled to be transferred Sunday night from Harbor Branch to Mote
Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Petri said.Preliminary blood tests on the six dolphin rescued Friday night
were “out of normal ranges,” but Petri said they did not point to
any particular cause that might have prompted the animals to come
ashore.Petri said the dolphin were in guarded condition.
“They were feeding, which is a good sign,” he said. “If anything
they look undernourished.”Harbor Branch scientists have said Friday’s stranding may have been
caused by a single sick dolphin that led the rest of the animals
ashore.The euthanized dolphin have been sent for necropsy, but results are
not expected for several weeks.Mass strandings of any animals are rare, but scientists said it is
particularly unusual for rough-toothed dolphin to beach themselves
because the animals prefer deep water and rarely swim close to shore.
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