Sick dolphin dies in Ormoc City shore

ORMOC CITY, Philippines—A spinner dolphin died shortly after it was found by a fisherman a few meters from the shoreline of Barangay (village) Danhug in Ormoc City on Sunday morning.

The female dolphin, which was about two years old, didn’t have any visible injury, said Irish Belmonte, head of the Resource Enhancement Monitoring and Evaluation of the Ormoc Animal Production and Fisheries Division.

The spinner dolphin was already weak when spotted by a fisherman about 6 a.m., swimming in water about three meters deep.  The fisherman immediately alerted barangay officials and the police, said Dunhug Barangay Councilor Renante Pilapil.

Pilapil said Bantay Dagat volunteer Jophe Codog tried to guide the dolphin to the shore to prevent it from infecting other fishes in case it was sick but the marine mammal died a few minutes later.

Ms. Belmonte, who autopsied the dolphin, said it didn’t have any injuries nor did it swallow foreign objects that might have caused its death.

She said their findings showed that the dolphin might have been sick with tuberculosis and that there was no indication of trauma. Its condition worsened when the dolphin got separated from its group, said Belmonte.

The dolphin weighed about 30 kilograms and was 182 centimeters in length and 72 centimeters in girth.

Belmonte took teeth samples for laboratory analysis. It was later buried in Barangay Ipil, Ormoc, to prevent people from eating it.