FUNGIE GETS HOOKED
IT’S the last thing any angler, boatman or anybody in Dingle’s tourism industry would want to happen, but somehow Fungie the dolphin nearly became the catch of the day last week.
The dolphin was seen by Fungiephile Jeannine Massett with a fish-hook stuck in his face. She was horrified by the sight.
“That was really horrible,” said Jeannie who, along with Rudi Schamart, documents Fungie’s activity on a daily basis.
“He jumped and smashed his head on the water for 20 minutes until he finally got rid of it!”
It isn’t known if the dolphin was injured after opportunistically snatching a hooked fish or if he accidentally got snagged on discarded fishing line.
The incident came in what was a strange and busy week for the dolphin, by all accounts.
He had earlier found a basking shark patrolling his favourite feeding spot in Dingle Harbour. Then there was the issue of three visiting dolphins in the bay. Fungie was not best pleased and appears to have gone into hiding until they had passed.
Unfortunately one of the visiting dolphins had suffered a wound to the head and died, the carcass floating right into the Doctoors where Fungie had been hiding – not the most pleasant of experiences for poor Fungie.
However, the week got better for Fungie - and certainly for Dingle tourism - when it was revealed that he is to feature in episode five of Wild Ireland on UTV on Monday May 11 at 8pm.
“They do this lovely programme about the wonderful wild coastline and were here last summer when Fungie was just in the middle of his quiet period in the summer. We went out with Irish Adventures that morning and they interviewed us and have used some of my film footage for the programme,” Jeannine said.