PAMPLONA, Cagayan — A stranded dolphin was rescued by a group of fishers along the shoreline of Nagtupacan in this town while deploying their fishing nets at around 6:30 in the evening of February 13, 2023.
Said stranding incident was reported by Jflammy Goriding, John Mark Bis, and Jason Gayumani, fishers and residents of the above-mentioned barangay to the PNP-Maritime Group based in the locality and to the members of the MFARMC and rescue team from DA-BFAR for appropriate action.
Dr. Jefferson K. Soriano, Marine Mammal Stranding and Rescue Operations Focal Person provided initial instructions to the team on how to give immediate care to the dolphin.
Upon finding out that the marine mammal lost its ability to float, rescuers supported the dolphin from sinking overnight. Unfortunately, it died before it was transported to the nearest facility of the bureau for further medical intervention.
Meanwhile, the animal is identified as a female Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘢) weighing about 80 kg and 1.9 meters long. Based on the examination done by Dr. John Henry Centeno III and Dr. Soriano, the dolphin was emaciated, with a single fresh deep wound caused by cookie cutter shark bite. Internal examination of the animal revealed that it is pregnant but no hemorrhages nor abnormalities on its major organs were observed.
The team also conducted an awareness campaign on the importance of marine mammals and how to conduct emergency first response for marine mammal strandings. ### (with reports from J. Tattao, PMMSN)
