Phuket NEWS:

Monday, July 7, 2008

Dolphins rescued from receding tide

Local villagers at Cape Panwa moisten the skin of one of the stranded dolphins until a rescue party can return them to the sea. Photo by the PMBC.

CAPE PANWA: Three rough-toothed dolphins were rescued after they were found stranded on mud flats created by the receding tide at Ao Makham on Saturday.

The rescue comes one week after the carcass of a female striped dolphin was discovered washed ashore at Baan Dan in Thalang and nine days after a pod of false killer whales beached at Koh Racha.

The dolphins, two females and one male, were found by fishermen who, together with local villagers, helped keep the dolphins’ heads and skin wet.

They also informed the nearby Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), whose marine biologists came to give basic treatment to the dolphins before taking them by boat back to the sea.

According to PMBC experts who rushed to the scene, the dolphins were more than 20 years old, weighed more than 100 kilograms and were more than two meters in length.

However, they were puzzled as to why the dolphins were found in the mangrove as they were in good health and this species of dolphin is rare in Phuket waters.

One theory put forward was that they were fleeing a disturbance, possibly something man-made.

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