A Risso’s dolphin that has been rehabilitating at Mote’s Dolphin and Whale Hospital since stranding as a group of five in July 2005 is scheduled to be released on Friday morning (2-10-06). Clyde will be transported 80 to 100 miles offshore in an 80-foot yacht whose owners are donating the use of the vessel for this release. Media is invited to watch Clyde being moved from truck to boat at Marina Jack, where the TomCat, owned by Cathy Unruh and Tom Sanfone, will be docked and prepared for the release. When the couple heard about Mote’s need for a vessel big enough to hold a large species of dolphin and travel a long distance relatively quickly, they immediately stepped up to the plate to help. “Mote had a need and we had a boat that could assist,” Cathy Unruh said. “Loving animals as we do, we of course jumped at the opportunity to help Clyde return to the wild.”
Mote President Dr. Kumar Mahadevan couldn’t be more thankful for the donation – especially coming at a time when rehabilitation funds were low due to the length of the rehab and the sheer size of the dolphins. “As a nonprofit organization, Mote must depend on help from the community for such rehabilitation and release efforts,” Mahadevan said. “It’s just wonderful when individuals like Cathy and Tom step forward to help support important conservation efforts like this.”
Clyde’s rehabilitation has been extraordinary, with around-the-clock hospital support by Mote staff, interns and volunteers for upwards of 200 days. Efforts have been intense with the Risso’s dolphins because they are a deep-water, offshore species rarely seen in the wild. Little is known about the life history of this species of dolphins.
To gain additional insight into the best ways to treat these animals, Mote staff has worked with two institutions that were recently successful rehabilitating Risso’s dolphins. One is the Riverhead Foundation in Riverhead, New York, and the other is Oltermare in Riccione, Italy, which is housing a dolphin under the care of Fondazione Cetacea. “The exchange of all information available on the species is of great benefit to these dolphins and future stranded animals,” said Dr. Charles Manire, Mote’s Chief Veterinarian. By exchanging information about bloodwork, measurements, and other indices, veterinarians are able to make more accurate and faster health assessments of stranded or sick animals, he said.
Clyde responded very well to treatment, despite overcoming anemia, a gastric ulcer and an intestinal infection. He has been healthy and ready for release for three months. His release date was delayed as Manire and his staff worked to get a second Risso’s dolphin that stranded with Clyde – nicknamed Bonnie ‑ healthy and ready for release.
Unfortunately, Bonnie underwent a series of health problems and she died on Feb. 3, 2006.
Now officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the protection of wild marine mammals, have deemed Clyde healthy and ready for release.
Generally, rehabilitated dolphins are released as close as possible to the place where they stranded, and in a place where they would normally be found. Risso’s dolphins, (Grampus griseus), are found in deep, temperate ocean waters worldwide; therefore Clyde will be transported by boat 80 to100 miles offshore for release.
Just before he’s released, Clyde will be tagged with a satellite-linked radio transmitter that will allow scientists to track him no matter where he travels. Scientists will be able to view information about Clyde’s location, dive depths and dive durations from their computers in the lab. The tags should transmit for one to two months. With so little known about Risso’s dolphins, it’s important to have such data to further rehabilitation, research and the overall knowledge of the species.
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