Dolphin rescued from Vadhavan Beach succumbs to injuries

Mumbai: An Indian Ocean humpback dolphin succumbed to injuries at a marine animal rescue centre in Dahanu on Monday morning, less than a day after it was rescued at Vadhavan Beach.

The animal was unable to swim as its fluke was paralysed and was found with large lesions across its body, according to a government veterinarian who treated it. These were likely caused by the sharp, rocky outcrop where the animal was stranded.

The dolphin was rescued by volunteer wildlife workers and was taken to the rescue centre run by the forest department.

Hrushik Dalvi, a volunteer with the Wildlife Conservation and Animal Welfare Association, Dahanu, said that he and five of his colleagues were responding to a turtle distress call in the afternoon when one of them noticed the dolphin through binoculars.

“It seemed to be alive but unable to move. So, we got into the water and tried to push it back into the sea. It kept coming back with the waves and we realised it was totally unable to swim,” said Dalvi.

“We arranged for a small inflatable children’s pool from a villager, filled it with water, loaded the dolphin into it in the back of our ambulance and brought it to the rescue centre around 6pm,” added Dalvi.

A veterinarian with the Dahanu rescue centre, who examined the dolphin around 9:30pm on Sunday, confirmed the animal’s death, seeking anonymity.

“We tried our best to stabilise the animal, but it was in a critical condition and having difficulty breathing. It was kept in a large tank, around 20 feet by 10 feet, in enough water to keep the skin wet and the blow hole was kept open so it could break. The fluke seemed to be paralysed due to which it would not have been able to swim back out into the water. There may have been some severe internal injury,” they said.

While carcasses of dolphins and finless porpoises regularly wash ashore along the coast of Maharashtra, Vinherkar and forest department officials said this is the first incident where a dolphin has been found alive and transported outside its natural habitat for medical treatment.

Madhu Mitha, divisional forest officer, Dahanu, told Hindustan Times that a post-mortem will be conducted on the dolphin’s carcass at the earliest. “We are trying to find the right veterinarian to come in for the job. It will be done today and will tell us the cause of death,” said Mitha.

Mihir Sule, a researcher with the Konkan Cetacean Research Team who has been studying dolphins on India’s west coast for several years, noted that such animals are not meant to be treated ex-situ (out of their natural habitats).

“These creatures are not meant to be transported outside their environment. It may seem like a humane thing to do, but for dolphins the process of transportation and separation from their pod are more traumatic. Healing for them happens with the rest of their kind,” Sule said.