Heartbreaking Story: A Second Stranded Dolphin Has Died on Our Texas Coast
It's always heartbreaking to hear stories like one coming out of Galveston, Texas where a stranded dolphin has died.
Just last week we shared the story regarding the incident of the stranded dolphin who died after beachgoers attempted to ride her. If you missed it, you can read it here.
Although this story also has a sad ending, at least the circumstances surrounding this one provide a sharp contrast to last week's story in one significant way: The woman in this story behaved in a way much more befitting of caring human beings.
The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network posted the story on their Facebook page recently, and although sad, there is a sweetness there, too.
A woman happened upon a baby bottlenose dolphin calf who was all by herself and stranded on the beach. The TMMSN estimates the calf was only about 24-48 hours old. The first thing this woman did right was to call the TMMSN who then dispatched a rescue team to the site. She also asked about the best way to care for the infant dolphin might be while she waited for the team to arrive.
Unlike what we read in last week's story, this woman "did not push the young, exhausted dolphin back out to sea where it likely would have struggled to swim and breathe. She quietly knelt beside it, keeping its body upright, ensuring the dolphin could easily breathe without water entering the blowhole."
And, although it may have been tempting to do so, she didn't touch the baby dolphin or mess with her flippers. Instead, per TMMSN's guidance, she made sure to keep the little one's skin wet and cool to protect the dolphin from overheating until the TMMSN team arrived on the scene.
Sadly, the dolphin did die on the beach that day. However, this little one was kept as comfortable as possible in her last hours and, as opposed to the dolphin who died last week, wasn't harassed and stressed.
It's heartbreaking to hear that this baby dolphin died. But there is a comfort in knowing that at least she died in peace, thanks to this kind, wise woman.
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