Stranded dolphin rescue attempt fails at Lahinch

A striped dolphin was discovered alive and stranded at Lahinch on Sunday but despite efforts to take the dolphin out to deeper water, the mammal had to be put down.

“This animal had many injuries caused by the rocky nature of the beach, where it stranded and was euthanised by a vet to avoid further pain and distress,” explained Mick O’Connell, Irish Whale and Dolphin Group co-ordinator.

Doolin Coast Guard was sent to assist members of the public who were trying to assist the dolphin at Lahinch but despite several attempts to take the dolphin out to deeper water on the floating stretcher, according to a spokesperson for the unit, the animal was “too unwell and repeatedly returned to shore.

Later a vet arrived on scene and the dolphin was put down after many attempts to re-float it had failed”.
The North Clare stranding was the second stranding of this species over the weekend. On Friday, a striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, was found on Ladies’ Beach in Ballybunion, County Kerry. The dolphin, according to Mr O’Connell, appeared to be in “relatively good visual physical condition”.

This animal was refloated but it was found on the beach again later in the day. It was subsequently euthanised.

“While these were two separate strandings in two different counties, it is interesting to note the similarities between them and the fact that they were only some 50km and two days apart. It may have been useful to have had a post mortem conducted on both of these freshly dead animals in an attempt to establish what may have caused them to strand and/or to establish any link between the two events,” Mr O’Connell stated.

According to the IWDG, striped dolphins are found in warm and temperate waters, usually offshore.

“Records from Ireland are interesting for this species, a look at the IWDG Strandings database shows 151 strandings of 178 individuals whereas there are only 12 sighting records for this species on the sightings database. Of the strandings, which have been recorded on the Irish coast, 26 have been live strandings involving a total of 48 animals. Live strandings of striped dolphins in Ireland account for about 17% of total strandings for this species, marginally higher than the similar common dolphin Delphinus delphis in which the figure stands at just short of 15%. As of November 11, there have been six recorded strandings of striped dolphins in Ireland in 2012, three of which have been live strandings,” Mr O’Connell concluded.