Dolphin victim of shark attack

The Marine Connection was saddened to learn that a dolphin which was found suffering from pneumonia and gastritis on Anclote Key, West Florida and had spent seven months in rehabilitation was attacked twice by at least two different sharks shortly after release.

Roughly 6 years old and nicknamed Dunham, the dolphin was given antibiotics, anti-fungals, antacids and vitamin supplements to help him recover and human contact was kept to a minimum. Experts who were nearby monitoring him with a VHF radio transmitter at the time of the attack rushed to his aid, but sadly the injuries proved life-threatening and as it was felt Dunham would not have been able to recover, the animal was euthanised.

About three hours into the release, people following in two boats saw him struggle under the water and when he surfaced, his skin was bleeding and showed signs of shark bites. One shallow bite between his pectoral fin and tail was the size of a hand. He also had a large bite that penetrated his blubber down to his diaphragm.

Brent Winner, a shark expert for Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, examined photos of the wounds and said Dunham was most likely attacked by several sharks of different species, but that the largest wound was consistent with a medium-sized tiger shark.

Marine Connections' Liz Sandeman comments "Like most marine mammals that face threats on a daily basis, Dunham had to be given the opportunity of being released. The charity believes it was still the right decision, although of course it must have been highly distressing for those monitoring this animal to realise this was happening within hours of his release back into the wild. Unfortunately releases back into the wild involve some risk, there was in fact a similar incident off the coast of California when a killer whale attacked a seal which had also been nursed back to health and released, but in our view keeping these animals in a captive environment is not the answer, if animals are considered suitable candidates for release back into their natural habitat, they should not be denied that option."