New tool to aid in dolphin strandings

Date:

May 1, 2014

Source:

Tufts University

Summary:

The cause of dolphin strandings has long been a mystery but a new study shows that clues about survival rates after release may be found in the sea mammal’s blood. The study analyzed blood work and body condition values from stranded common dolphins and compared them with survival rates after release. Responders in the field are now using the blood and health data to make better release decisions and predict survival outcomes. "The establishment of these blood values provides a window into the overall health of the dolphin," said the paper's lead author. "Now we have a way to predict which stranded dolphins have a better chance of survival after release and this can help triage care."

Continued

First confirmed successful refloat of stranded dolphin

Refloated dolphin seen 3 weeks later - Courtesy of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group

August 2012. A bottlenose dolphin that live-stranded in North Kerry and was refloated, was recently photographed from dolphin tour boats in the Shannon Estuary. This is one of just a few occasions when there is proof that refloating a dolphin had some long-term sucess.

Stranded in Co Kerry
A bottlenose dolphin live-stranded at Béal, Co. Kerry, on the shores of the Shannon Estuary, on 1 June 2012. The 3.5m female bottlenose dolphin was lying on the sand about 10m from the waterline, but appeared to be in perfect condition and had no signs of injury. She didn't seem in a very distressed state despite her predicament and her skin was still moist, but she was starting to overheat.

Rather than wait for the whale pontoons to arrive from Kilrush in Co. Clare on the other side of the estuary, those present at the stranding decided to try using a tractor equipped with a large transport box on the back to lift her out of the sand and put her slowly into the water. Once in the water, they stabilised the dolphin for a few minutes and allowed her to become acclimatised, before she started to swim away from the shore. She quickly increased her swimming speed and was observed swimming for about 10 minutes before she was out of view.

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

Two rare striped dolphins strand in Cornwall

Death of two rare striped dolphins in Cornwall may be due to disease
June 2012. The recent death of two striped dolphins found near Fowey in Cornwall has raised concern among two local marine conservation organisations - British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Strandings Network (MSN) - who work together to study and protect cetaceans around our coast. Striped dolphins are a species rarely seen on the Cornish coast, more commonly found in southerly regions such as the Mediterranean.

They first became aware of the strandings when Dave Jarvis, Director of BDMLR, received a call from local residents in Fowey, who had found the first dolphin stranded alive on the beach at Coombe Haven. The local residents attempted to assist the dolphin by putting it back in the sea, but sadly it stranded again and died before rescuers could reach the spot.

BDMLR vet Darryl Thorpe, and volunteers Emily Jenkinson and David and Hilary Pugh-Jones, examined the animal. Darryl reports,

Broken jaw
"It had a severely broken jaw, probably due to being dashed against rocks in the rough seas. It was also malnourished and would have had to be euthanased if it hadn't already died, as it wouldn't have survived long in that state."

BDMLR alerted the Trust's Marine Strandings Network Co-ordinator, Jan Loveridge, and the female dolphin was examined, photographed and recorded by volunteers at the scene for the MSN's research into dolphin deaths. The recorder, Faye Archell, found a number of other lesions on the dolphin's body, including deep rake (teeth) marks inflicted by a bottlenose dolphin.

Whale lice
Faye explains "This has become a common, if surprising, sight in Cornwall in stranded cetaceans and just shows how aggressive bottlenose dolphins can be towards their own and other species. Other lesions in the skin were colonised by tiny long whale lice - fascinating creatures only 5mm in size that live out their lives on dolphins and whales by hanging on with their enormous hooked claws. Pox marks were also seen on the skin, suggesting the possibility of underlying disease, together with a possible rope mark on the tail fluke."

The MSN's advisor and pathologist James Barnett was called to the scene, with fellow scientist Nick Davison, who volunteered his time to assist. Despite the bad weather, they managed to retrieve the animal with the help of volunteers and took it away for a full post-mortem examination at the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Polwhele, where they are based.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/striped-dolphins-cornwall.html#cr

Heat wave blamed for killing 4,450 pelicans on Peru's beaches... as mystery still surrounds deaths of 900 dolphins

Thousands of pelicans that perished on Peru's northern beaches died because of a heat wave, scientists have claimed.

Investigators looking into the deaths of 4,450 of the birds say hotter than usual ocean temperatures have driven anchovies deeper into the sea, beyond the reach of many young.

But scientists studying the deaths of dolphins and porpoises from early February to mid-April say that particular phenomenon still remains a mystery.

Their inability to discover what had happened was due in part, they said, to the government's slowness in investigating.

Authorities were so late in gathering tissues from the mammals that crucial clues were likely to have been lost, said dolphin death probe scientist Armando Hung, head of the molecular biology lab at Cayetano Heredia University. 

At the same time, local officials have been so slow in removing carcasses that the Health Ministry urged the public last weekend to stay away from beaches from Lima, the coastal capital, northward, though it did not identify any specific health issue.

Read on:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142259/Heat-wave-blamed-killing-4-450-pelicans-Perus-beaches--mystery-surrounds-deaths-900-dolphins.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

81 dolphins have died along Cape Cod shore

CAPE COD, Mass., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- At least 81 dolphins have died along the Cape Cod shore since early January in a series of unexplained incidents, U.S. officials and wildlife rescuers said.

More than 100 dolphins have been found stranded along the rocky Massachusetts shoreline, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokeswoman Teri Rowles told CNN. The International Fund for Animal Welfare said the dolphins are sometimes washing ashore in groups of as many as 10.

Rescuers have been transporting live dolphins to the outer Cape to be returned to the ocean.

IFAW program director A.J. Cady said the number of recent incidents is disturbing. "Cape Cod sees an average of 120 dolphin strandings per year," Cady told CNN.

Recent changes in water temperature could be a contributing factor, Wellfleet, Mass., harbormaster Michael Flanagan said.

"Usually in the winter, the harbor ices over and inhibits the animals from coming close to the shore," Flanagan said. "But now that the water is warmer, we're seeing lots more dolphins washing up than ever before."



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/02/02/81-dolphins-have-died-along-Cape-Cod-shore/UPI-44041328211780/#ixzz1lM2q0rz1