Why This Was A Sad Day for Dolphin Rescue

Yesterday, on June 11th, a young male Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) was found near the shore of Pineda in Catalonia, Spain.

It was 5pm when people realized that there was a dolphin (about 1.5 m) swimming by their side. Police, rural agents and even marine mammal trainers of Aquopolis responded in order to keep people away. Not long after, the CRAM service (Centro de Recuperación de Animales Marinos, or, Marine Animals Rehabilitation Center) came to rescue the scared dolphin.

But rescues don’t always have a happy ending. The dolphin had several injuries and died shortly after being taken to the center’s facilities. It seems that the dolphin was already injured and went to the beach to ask for help. In a few days they will perform an autopsy on the dolphin to determine if there were internal injuries. This was certainly a sad day for dolphin rescuers.