Dolphin Dies After Stranding In West Falmouth
A common dolphin spent most of Sunday and Monday, May 29 and 30, swimming off the west side of Falmouth before it was secured by rescuers, then succumbed to its ailments.
Barbara P. Schneider, a 20-year marine mammal rescue veteran with the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the animal was first spotted on Sunday at about 6 AM near inner Wild Harbor. IFAW and other first responders tracked the animal as it moved south along the coast toward Old Silver Beach.
“It definitely had something wrong,” Ms. Schneider said. “It did not seem to have an injury; it definitely had something very wrong with it.”
Over the course of its two-day ordeal, the dolphin was tracked out to Woodneck Beach and Gunning Point before beaching itself on Monday at about 1 PM near Chapoquoit and Black beaches. Rescuers were able to get the dolphin on a stretcher and were moving it to the truck for transport to a mobile animal hospital when it died.
“It was a long, sad thing with a lot of people watching this animal for a day and a half [or] two days,” Ms. Schneider said. “Unfortunately, this happens. We knew it was in very bad shape.”
The dolphin’s breathing and swimming were erratic from the start, she said, indicating that a positive outcome was unlikely, which was especially unfortunate considering it occurred on the first fair-weather day of Memorial Day weekend. Despite the busy beaches, Ms. Schneider said, the onlookers and neighbors were very cooperative and acted quickly to alert IFAW, which is always key.
“I can’t say enough about the inner Wild Harbor neighborhood,” Ms. Schneider said. “They went through this about two months ago and it didn’t end well there either. They were very quick to alert us that there was another one there, and they all have a lot of emotional investment now that they’ve gone through this twice.”
It was a community effort, Ms. Schneider said, with neighbors offering water and bathrooms to the rescuers who spent more than 30 hours tracking and monitoring the animal.
In addition to IFAW, Falmouth Animal Control Officer Mattie Long was on the scene. Her presence came in handy when it came to monitoring the harbor to ensure that boats knew to stay away from the area where the dolphin was swimming, Ms. Schneider said.
“I cannot say enough about our animal control officer Mattie Long,” Ms. Schneider said. “She came on duty and until she stopped being on duty a day and a half later, she was there doing everything she could to help us.”
Ms. Schneider said that anyone who sees any stranded marine animal should report it to the IFAW marine mammal rescue hotline at 508-743-9548.