News: Dolphin Spotted at Jones Beach
(Long Island, N.Y.) An adult dolphin was spotted today swimming in circles near Jones Beach in an apparent state of distress. It’s likely that the mammal had been sick or injured, and it is estimated to be between five and six feet long. The bayside waters where it was found are roughly twenty feet deep.
Sightings of stranded and suffering marine animals are not uncommon for the patrons of Long Island beaches. Last June a common dolphin was found bleeding and struggling in the West Gilgo Beach surf. It had sustained tail wounds and died in a recovery tank the day after it was discovered, roughly twelve hours after its rescue.
The animal’s health worsened after being taken in critical condition by the Riverhead Marine Foundation for Research and Preservation. The Riverhead Marine Foundation for Research and Preservation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, and sea turtles. The injured dolphin was found in the afternoon and was said to be about five-and-a-half feet in length.
A team of police officers, marine biologists, and rescue workers assisted the dolphin before experts arrived. They allegedly consulted with a manual designed to guide them in similar situations, and considered naming the animal “Tobay” after the nearby beach. Personnel from Nassau Emergency Services offered to provide a vinyl blanket, normally used in lifting extremely large people, to transport the five-hundred pound mammal. A special travel harness and giant stretcher were used to take the dolphin to a waiting rescue truck.
Within a week of last year’s dolphin stranding a humpback whale was found washed up a few miles away on Field 6 in Jones Beach. The animal was a thirty-foot-long male, only a few years old, which likely died a few days prior to washing onto shore. It was first spotted at roughly nine in the morning.
Residents questioned whether the mammals had been affected by the oil spill in the Gulf, which occurred around the time they typically migrate from the Caribbean. Experts claimed that though it wasn’t a likely cause, it couldn’t be ruled out as a possibility. Humpback whales are common to Long Island waters in the summer, and often head north to the cooler waters of Maine.
Though there were no signs of injury, marine biologists planned to do a complete necropsy to determine the cause of death. Answers sometimes take weeks or months, but it is not considered out of the ordinary to see so many beached animals. Humpback whales are especially treasured as being the kind of marine animals that are known to sing.
In April of last year a baby humpback was discovered in East Hampton, about a quarter-mile east of Main Beach. Though most large whales perish within the first day of being stranded, the baby humpback was struggling for over three days in a few inches of water prior to being euthanized. The mammal had been given medicated darts to reduce its suffering.
Due to its location within the surf and constant movements, rescuers had a difficult time locating the whale to conduct a safe and humane euthanasia. While a necropsy was performed to help learn about what can be done to save other animals, experts hypothesized that the whale could have suffered from a broken bone, internal sickness, or jaw injury that impaired feeding. Top veterinarians were contacted, and staff from the National Marine Fisheries Service took blood samples to help track the illness.
Reports stated that another humpback surfaced while heading west from Montauk and hopeful residents believed that it could have been the baby’s mother. The twenty-foot-long baby still fed on its mother’s milk and could not be nursed to health by rescuers who claimed it would be difficult for the whale family to reunite. Humpback whales roam thousands of miles, eat plankton, and grow up to fifty feet in length.
