Dolphin death blamed on extreme tides

Extreme tides have been blamed for the death of a dolphin in the Derwent River off Claremont, Tasmania. Two male dolphins became stranded on mud flats in Windermere Bay yesterday (28 February), one of the animals was dead when wildlife officers arrived.

Andrew Irvine from the Environment Department, believes the dolphins were chasing fish near the shore and became trapped as the tide quickly receded. He said that two officers saved the other one by dragging it back into the river.

"It's quite slippery, so they just sort of slid the animal along the mud. Got it into the shallow water and once the animal is in the water it can start cooling down," he said. "That's probably it's biggest threat when it's on land, is overheating, so once it's in the water then they can stabilise it, make sure the animal can right itself and is breathing okay."

(source: ABC online)

PLEASE NOTE:
The Marine Connection would not normally recommend dragging a dolphin back into the water as damage can be caused and it is better to wait for professional assistance to arrive. However in this case, it seems the animals simply got stranded on the mud banks and required only minimal, gentle assistance to help them slide back down to the waterline.