NSB's beached dolphin has 'fighting chance'

NSBNews.net photos by Henry Frederick and Sera Frederick / Nicole Carni of the New Smyrna Beach (shown here in the pink shirt) and Kathy Karlander, visiting from Indianapolis, are among the first responders helping this rare Risso's dolphin that was beached Friday on New Smyrna Beach's hard sands just south of the Third Avenue ramp approach.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The Risso dolphin that beached at water's edge has a "fighting chance" at surviving, thanks to a group of beach-goers who came to its aid, said a veterinarian on scene. 

That's the assessment of Dr. Craig Pelton, veterinarian with Volusia County's Marine Science Center.

"It's in pretty bad shape," Pelton told NSBNews.net after the 10-foot Risso's dolphin was lifted into the back of a Hubbs Sea World Research Institute truck and placed into a holding tank for transport to its Orlando marine facility where the mammal will undergo a battery of tests and treatment.

"It's in pretty bad shape," Pelton told NSBNews.net after the 10-foot Risso dolphin was lifted into the back of a Hubb's Sea World Research Institute truck and placed into a holding tank for transport to its Orlando marine facility where the mammal will undergo a battery of tests and treatment.

"It has a fighting chance," Pelton said, crediting the first responders, Nicole Carni, director of the New Smyrna Beach Visitor's Center; Kathy Karlander, visiting her mother here from Indianapolis, along with an off-duty firefighter from Orange City and several other beach-goers when the dolphin beached at 11:30 a.m. 

Initially, the dolphin was thrashing in ankle-high water and rolling into the sand at water's edge. With the receding tide, the dolphin was rolled in a few more feet with umbrellas placed over him for shade.

Then came the steady stream of these responders taking turns with buckets of water to keep it hydrated.

A local animal rescue team arrived and an IV was placed into the 400-pound mammal to give it internal fluids and its blow hole was cleared.

This dolphin, an adult male, showed no major external injuries, but was emaciated, Pelton said.

Just before 4:30 p.m., the dolphin was driven off for the longest land ride of its life.

Teresa Mazza, a research assistant with Hubbs Sea World said Risso's like this one normally swim in pods of several to nearly two dozen, but in this case might have become separated from the recent spate of tropical storms and became sick, moving further inward where food is less plentiful.

Mazza said these dolphins don't beach unless they are sick, adding the dolphin may have fluid build-up in the lungs or the presence of parasites, which could explain its malnourished look.

Risso's dolphins look more like pilot whales than traditional dolphins, and are in fact, part of the whale family. They are deep-sea swimmers who rarely venture within 50 miles of the shoreline.

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