Common dolphin rescued from the River Dee

Dolphin refloated after stranding upriver

September 2013. After reports and photographs appeared on the internet appeared to show a common dolphin in the River Dee, British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) service became concerned after the dolphin was reported to be mid-way to Chester. 

Common dolphins prefer deeper waters and rarely enter rivers, but this animal may have

been chasing fish into the Dee estuary and up the river. Once there, it may have experienced problems getting back out due to the high flooding tides associated with the local waters, especially on spring tides as currently.

BDMLR volunteers, along with members of the Coastguard and helpful members of the public, tracked the dolphin from the shore as it swam all the way up to Chester, and then turned back seawards. After a long day and many miles, it was seen heading out towards Flint in the estuary as daylight failed at around 9pm and the teams were stood down.

The following day BDMLR received a call to say that the dolphin was sadly back in the River close to Saltney. BDMLR volunteers, members of the Coastguard and locals again monitored its progress from the river banks and it repeated the journey of the previous day, swimming strongly and exhibiting feeding behaviour as had been observe on previous days. It reached the Connah's Quay area in late evening as the flooding tide entered the river and so was unable to swim back into the open sea.

Stranded

The next day it was again reported back in the river moving towards Chester, and subsequently the dolphin stranded about two miles away from Saltney.

An inshore lifeboat from Flint was called and the dolphin was made comfortable on board by a BDMLR team.

About 6 miles out to sea and in at least 18 metres of water, the female dolphin was put over the side of the lifeboat in a sling stretcher, with a couple of RNLI on either side to gently rock the dolphin as per BDMLR protocol. This helps to restore the animal's equilibrium and recirculate any fluids that may have built up on one side. However, as the dolphin had not been stranded long, it gave all the right signs for release and as BDMLR medic Steve O'Connor on the lifeboat says, 'went off like a rocket' after a few minutes.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/dee-dolphin.html

Pilot whale strands in Falmouth

Long-finned pilot whale on a beach near Falmouth. Courtesy of British Divers Marine Life Rescue

Whale too ill to survive

April 2013. At 11am on 15th April, British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) received a call from the Cornwall Coastguard telling alerting them that a dolphin had stranded on the beach at Falmouth. They scrambled their marine mammal medics they arrived on the scene within half an hour to discover that the dolphin was actually a Long-finned Pilot whale.

The medics immediately started to administer first aid to the whale, and to protect the whale from the sun (which dries out and cracks its skin) the medics placed towels drenched in water over the whale.

BDMLR maintain a whale rescue trailer which arrived shortly after towed by BDMLR director Dave Jarvis. The whale was 4.1 metres long and probably a juvenile. The whale was also solitary which was unusual as they live in large pods - This was a worry to the rescue team as Long-finned pilot whales are known to strand en masse - As happened in Scotland last September - But as yet there is no sign of any more whales in the area.

Poor condition
On assessment the body condition was found to be poor and a decision was taken to euthanize the whale. BDMLR main aim is to prevent suffering and to return a whale to the sea that is not in a condition to survive would simply increase the suffering of the whale.

COURTESY OF BRITISH DIVERS MARINE LIFE RESCUE.

Dave Jarvis said "It's always a hard decision to end a life but in this case I feel it was justified."

A full post mortem will be carried out on the whale to determine the reason it came ashore.

Long-finned pilot whales

Long-finned pilot whales occur in the North Atlantic and across the southern hemisphere at lower latitudes. Adults can grow up to 7 metres long and can weigh up to 3 tonnes.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/pilot-falmouth.html