Dolphins washing ashore, injured or dead

PHUKET: A dead dolphin was discovered off a Patong Beach and another is recovering at a Royal Thai Navy facility on Koh Lanta. Both were discovered by scuba divers on Saturday.

Phuket Marine Biological Center veterinarian Patcharaporn Gaewmong told the Phuket Gazette that she believes recent discoveries of sick, injured or dead cetaceans are likely the result of monsoon season currents and winds.

“This appears normal for what we see around this time of the year; however we are running tests on the body of the Patong female to determine the exact cause of death,” Ms Patcharaporn said. “We will also be looking for environmental factors that may have contributed to this animal’s decline in health.”

She said that preliminary examinations of the Patong female found wide-spread infections in the animal’s blood.

That dolphin was recovered by Kusoldharm Foundation volunteer Vincent Modell after Patong Beach lifeguards notified the organization around 5pm. Mr Modell is also a full-time scuba instructor at Sea Fun Divers.

A 2.5 meter-long male dolphin was recovered by Blue Planet Divers owner Gediminas Zakarauskas off Koh Lanta, in Krabi, also on Saturday.

Lieutenant Commander Peerapat Pattanasopon of the Third Naval Area Command told the Gazette that the 60kg dolphin is being cared for at a Lanta naval facility.

Lt Peerapat said that Navy staff suspect the dolphin was injured after being caught in a fishing net, which they believe exhausted the mammal before it managed to free itself.

The five year old bull dolphin is the second to be discovered off Lang Sod Beach within a week (story here).