Personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard try to release back into the sea the stranded female melon-headed whale, which belongs to the oceanic dolphin family of toothed whales, before it died. | PHOTO: BFAR
DAGUPAN CITY – A two-meter long, female melon-headed whale, a kind of dolphin, died while under rehabilitation by the staff of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), who kept it afloat in an estuarine off Surngit village in San Juan town, Ilocos Sur.
The dolphin was stranded on the beach off the village on Wednesday, June 5, and the Philippine Coast Guard tried to release it back to the sea, but it swam back to the shore.
Unlike most dolphins that were dying, it did not struggle but merely arched its body and stopped breathing at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, said BFAR veterinarian Hasmin Chogsayan.
It was BFAR staff Constancio Baptista and Christopherson Abalos who were holding the dolphin above the water when it perished.
The necropsy showed that its body, including the kidney, liver, and brain, was full of bubbles, which could be a result of a sudden ascent into the sea surface.
“It could have been startled by something, so it suddenly ascended to the surface,” Chogsayan said.
The dolphin was the 28th marine mammal that was either stranded or beached in different coastal areas in Ilocos.
Some of these were successfully rehabilitated and returned to the sea, some died while being treated, and some were dead when seen on the beach.
A rough-toothed dolphin named “Heart” was brought to the Ocean Adventure, a marine theme park in Subic, Zambales, after it refused to return to the sea. It was found in Aloleng, Agno, Pangasinan, last February. INQ