Western Morning News (Saturday)
Playful dolphin found dead after boat collision
ADOLPHIN which brought widespread delight by playing and jumping around a group of swimmers in Cornwall last month has died after being struck by a boat.
The bottlenose dolphin, nicknamed ‘Nick’, was found dead last Sunday, washed up at Roaches Point in Cork Harbour, Ireland.
A volunteer from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group was dispatched to visit the dead animal, and spotted deep cuts in the dolphin’s tail which experts think were caused by a boat propeller.
Pictures taken of the dead dolphin were examined by Irish Whale and Dolphin Group experts Stephanie Levesque and Mags Daly who said: “The images showed multiple, deep lacerations on the carcass located on the dorsal surface of the tail stock and tail flukes – injuries consistent with propeller damage.
“Had the injuries occurred post mortem, we would expect to see them on the underside of the carcass, rather than the top of the tail stock.” The experts also found that the dolphin had been in “good” nutritional condition, suggesting it was the boat alone which killed him.
Photos of the dead dolphin showed the individual’s distinctive white scar on his beak, which many people had commonly mistaken for a plastic bag being stuck.
The dolphin acquired brief internet fame after a stunning close encounter with swimmers in Hayle Harbour on August 22.
He swam right up to the people who were already in the water, playing, jumping, and splashing them.
Witness and local resident Helen Williams said the day after: “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The kids quite often go jumping into the harbour. I’ve never seen a dolphin in the harbour before. It was just incredible.”
Hayle resident and British Divers Marine Life Rescue member Dan Jarvis posted on social media: “Very sad to break the news that the recent visiting social solitary bottlenose dolphin known as ‘Nick’ was sadly killed in Ireland a few days ago, exactly as we feared would happen despite trying to raise awareness of his situation.” Mr Jarvis had previously told WMN sister website CornwallLive he was worried Nick’s ‘social solitary’ nature – preferring the company of humans to a pod of his own kind – would result in him, or an unwitting human, being harmed.
“If you’re on a boat, don’t do high speed turns around it, that’s when they get hit,” Mr Jarvis said in August.
“Don’t expect a dolphin to be clever. People will often say, ‘if it wants to go away it will’, and will blame it if it gets hit.” Local residents paid their respects to the dolphin. One commented on Mr Jarvis’ post: “Sadly despite trying to educate these tragic incidents happen, heartbreaking as they are. Nick was certainly a ‘character’ who put many a smile on people’s faces with his antics.”