Dive Into Your Imagination

On Tuesday morning I was greeted at work with an exciting new challenge. A bottlenose dolphin had stranded on Siesta Key beach, and it was our job to respond to the call. The other interns and I were very eager to head toward the beach to help the dolphin, and we loaded up into the truck bed of a Mote vehicle, and off we went to assist with a stranding!

We arrived at Siesta Key Beach, and I helped tow a stretcher and cushion out to the sight. From afar, we could immediately see the location of the dolphin; a gathering of onlookers, beach vehicles, and umbrellas formed a circle in the distance. When we approached the dolphin, I recognized the familiar faces of several Mote staff members and volunteers.

Those already at the site had done a wonderful job caring for the stranded dolphin, which had scars from interactions with other dolphins and sharks. Umbrellas were positioned in the sand to block the sun from the dolphin's sensitive skin, and moist towels covered the dolphin's dorsal (top) side. I learned that dolphins regulate their body heat through their pectoral, dorsal, and fluke fins, so it is most important to keep these areas cool and moist.

I assisted the Mote team with transporting the dolphin to Mote's Dolphin and Whale Hospital. We lifted her onto the truck bed, and during the car ride I helped hold her steady and keep her moist and cool. Upon arrival at Mote, we used a crane to hoist the bottlenose dolphin into one of our rehabilitation tanks, and local news crews captured the episode on camera as we climbed into the tank with the dolphin.

A really interesting factor of this stranding was the collaboration of the Dolphin and Whale Hospital with Mote's dolphin research team. The Sarasota Dolphin Research Program has been studying Sarasota's coastal dolphins since 1970, and is actually the longest-running study of a wild dolphin population! As a result of this program, the team has an ongoing database of this area's bottlenose dolphins. Dolphins all have unique dorsal fins (the same way every person has a distinct fingerprint) with various notches and shapes, and photographs of these dorsal fins allow scientists to follow the resident community for generations! The director of this program, Dr. Randy Wells, was at the site of the stranding and at the hospital, and he was quickly able to identify the stranded dolphin as a 3 ½-year-old local female that had separated from her mother earlier in the year.

For the first hour of the dolphin's stay at Mote, I assisted in helping her around the inside of the tank. Dolphins strand when they are extremely ill, and we were unsure how she would react to her new surroundings. Could she swim? Would she be able to surface to breathe? During the first hour, we examined the dolphin's wounds as we familiarized her with the tank, as this was a strange new environment for her. Medical exams were performed, samples taken, and a weight was acquired and recorded (she is just over 7 feet long, and around 271 pounds). When we finished guiding the dolphin in the water, we were positioned around the inside of the tank to "block" her from bumping into the wall, if, for some reason, she was unable to see or react to the wall.

After some time, our veterinarian became comfortable with the dolphin's swimming ability and dismissed us from the tank. The research team announced their decision to nickname the dolphin "Ginger," short for "gingerbread" in celebration of this holiday season. That Tuesday evening, I saw our team (and myself!) on local news channels announcing Ginger's stranding, rescue and hospitalization. This was very exciting!
Currently, Ginger has exams and is fed 2-3 times a day. She hasn't yet acquired a taste for the thawed frozen fish we normally feed our patients, so we have arranged for live fish from the local area (this is good because we don't want her coming to people for food after she's released back into Sarasota Bay). It is fascinating to watch Ginger chase the fish around the tank, swim upside down and in circles, and "play" with her food! Although it is reassuring that Ginger is swimming on her own, she is in critical condition and has some serious health challenges that require round-the-clock care. Ginger faces gastro-intestinal (stomach and digestion) problems, and her body is fighting bronchopneumonia, a serious and potentially deadly bacterial infection of the lungs. We are giving her antibiotics to fight these illnesses.

This holiday season, numerous staff, interns, and volunteers have spent their holiday looking after Ginger and administering care. It has been an eye-opening experience for me to see how much teamwork and collaboration goes into the rescue and treatment of a dolphin. The community has donated their support, time and money this holiday season to support Ginger and the Hospital's work. This has been wonderful (and much needed – unfortunately Mote has been struck hard by the economic crisis and running the Hospital is very costly). Thanks to the collaboration and dedication of many individuals, we are helping protect our neighbors in the ocean! This has been a fulfilling and rewarding experience to be a part of. To check on Ginger directly, you can visit Mote's web site at http://www.mote.org/index.php?src=directory&view=magazine_detail&srctype=display&refno=867&category=All%20Articles&search=ginger.
Happy Holidays!

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