A staff from SeaWorld Orlando rescued a sunburned dolphin stranded at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge last Thursday.
The dolphin is an adult male bottlenose weighing 350 pounds and measures eight feet long. This species of dolphin usually travels in group of at least 10 members but it was discovered alone in the shallow water. It was sunburned which means it may have been there for days.
The dolphin may have been trapped in the thick bed of seagrass. The kayaker found him around 4 p.m already sunburned due to prolonged sun exposure. He covered the skin of the mammal while calling for help.
The SeaWorld Orlando’s Animal Rescue team immediately responded to save the dolphin and brought it inside their marine animal facility for emergency care. They also contacted Hubbs-SeaWord Research Institute in Melbourne Beach to analyze the condition of the mammal.
“The top half of its body was out of the water. It was stranded and getting sunburned,” said Teresa Mazza, research assistant of Hubbs-SeaWord Research Institute in Melbourne Beach told in an interview with Florida Today. “We don’t suspect that he ended up in the shallow water by accident. He was sick, and we’re not really sure what’s wrong with him … He did have pretty serious sunburn on his back.”
The dolphin is already stable and eating again. The rescue team hopes its full recovery soon before they can release it back in the ocean.
Among 47 incidents of stranded dolphins since start of this year that SeaWorld had responded, this case is the first where the mammal is still alive. Stranding is one of the leading cause of deaths among marine animals and experts yet to discover the cause. Investigations are now being made because this was the sixth case within a week.
