Manly community members rushed to the aid of a dolphin calf washed up on the rocks near Manly Surf Life Saving Club at Manly Beach last night, 5 May.
Locals described the 1.5 metre Risso’s dolphin as ‘sickly’ and being covered in cookie cutter cuts – a wound from the species of shark with the same name known for biting small chunks off marine life.
“I was just having a walk, and there was two or three girls just kind of heading off towards Shelly. And they called me and said, Oh, there’s a sick, you know, Dolphin down there,” Maeve told Manly Observer.
“They [cookie cutter bites] were like twice the size of a 50 cent piece. And there was three of them. There was two on the left side, I think, and there was one sort of near in between the eyes.
“We just sort of dug trenches… I ran into the surf club to get a bucket, just to see if I could get water. So I found this old bin, emptied it out, and then just brought that down. We’re using that to kind of keep it cool. And I think somebody went in to get towels from the hotel.”
The Northern Beaches resident said dozens of people came to assist the stranded mammal before professional help arrived, transporting it from the rocks to the sand and keeping it wet.
It is uncommon for a Risso’s Dolphin to be found around Sydney shores. They can usually be found further North offshore off K’gari Island and even in the WA.
Sea life rescue organisation ORRCA and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) arrived on scene about 20 minutes after local’s spotted the creature.
ORRCA Vice President Steve Trikoulis said the community and related agencies worked collectively to keep the dolphin hydrated before transport could be organised.
“The dolphin was stranded around the corner from the surf club, where it’s quite rocky with a break wall there. What we did is we got the dolphin up onto one of our mats, and we safely just walked around on the low tide and brought it out in front of the surf club, where we can start doing some rehab on it,” Steve shared with us.
“We were just monitoring its breath rate and National Parks activated for the dolphin to get transported to Taronga Zoo, where there was an onsite-vet on standby.”
The juvenile dolphin was assessed by Taronga veterinary staff and found to be in poor condition. The decision was made to transport the dolphin to Taronga Wildlife Hospital for further assessment.
Unfortunately, after careful consideration, the juvenile dolphin was humanely euthanised.
The deceased dolphin is now undergoing a necropsy at Taronga’s Australian registry of Wildlife Health.
It won’t be clear as to what caused the animal to be in such poor condition until this process is completed. The only physical signs were the multiple cookie cutter cuts on its body and head, however, Mr Trikoulis said this injury is common among marine life.
“When you do see a cookie cutter bite up and close, it does look quite serious, but it’s a common cut that you see on seals, dolphins, even whales.”
Despite the sad ending, the community effort to help rescue the struggling sea creature was commendable and a stellar example of what to do and who to call in this type of situation.
“It was actually very pleasing, when we arrived the public had already sort of built some trenches around the dolphin, and were hydrating it with water,” Mr Trikoulis praised.
“They were awesome in their assistance, they showed support throughout the night.”
It is currently Humpback Whale migration season, so the chances of seeing a stranded or entangled sea creature is higher than usual. If you come across this – contact the organisations below.
ORRCA: 02 9415 3333
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS): 1300 072 757 (13000 PARKS)
