Saturday, February 26, 2011

Dog Rescued By Dolphins In Florida Canal (VIDEO)

First Posted: 02/24/11 09:14 PM Updated: 02/24/11 09:18 PM

When 11-year-old doberman pincher Turbo escaped from his home last Sunday night, he made some unexpected new friends.
Owner Cindy Burnett said her pooch had been missing for more than 15 hours when neighbors heard a loud splashing in a nearby canal. Upon investigating the scene, they found Turbo stranded in shallow water, surrounded by--yes--dolphins.
A very grateful Burnett said her pet was "shivering and in a lot of distress...if he had to tread water all night long, I know he wouldn't have been able to."
WATCH (via NBC 2 in Florida):

Dead Infant Dolphins: Veteran Toxicologist Ties Oil Toxins to “Spontaneous Abortions” in Mammals

February 24, 2011 12:02 pm

And then there were 30.
The 30th dead dolphin has been found on Alabama and Mississippi beaches, and already some officials are backing off their premature assertion that BP’s oil spill is not the cause. That’s 30 dead dolphins – two dozen of them babies – that have washed ashore on the Gulf Coast this year alone. According to the non-profit Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, there were 89 dolphin deaths reported in all of 2010. Further, research shows that in the first two months of 2009 there was one infant dolphin death reported and in the first two months of 2010 only two.
The alarmingly high death toll in the first two months of 2011 is profoundly troubling in itself, but since only a portion of the dead mammals will actually make it to shore, you have to wonder just how widespread the problem truly is.
We have had no luck confirming the identity of the “scientists” who initially told the Associated Press that BP was not to blame – I’m still betting NOAA is behind that knee-jerk denial. This story has the potential to re-engage the rest of the country, and BP and government public relations folks have to know that. I’m sure they’re scrambling the jets to control the damage as we speak.
Veteran toxicologist Dr. William Sawyer, a member of my research team, says the dolphin deaths are an outcome that could very well be linked to BP’s spill. He explains: “Toluene and aromatic hydrocarbons are known to cause spontaneous abortions and severe birth defects in humans and other mammals.”
The real surprise here, from what I can gather, is that the spill effects may be hitting more quickly than anybody imagined, indicating that the oil and/or dispersant may be even more toxic than we thought.
Here’s a WKRG-TV News report on the latest baby dolphin deaths: http://www.wkrg.com/gulf_oil_spill/article/dead-baby-dolphin-washes-up-in-bon-secour-bay/1205027/Feb-23-2011_7-59-pm/

More dead dolphin babies found along Gulf Coast

The Associated Press

Published: Friday, February 25, 2011 at 3:44 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 25, 2011 at 3:44 p.m.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the number of dead dolphins found since Jan. 1 in the area affected by last year's oil spill is now 67, with 35 of them premature or newborn calves.

NOAA regional spokeswoman Kim Amendola says five dead calves were reported Friday in Mississippi or Alabama.
Scientists are looking into whether any unusual deaths in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill area may be related to toxins from oil or dispersants. However, they're also investigating whether it could be related to the cold weather or a disease.
Megan Broadway, spokeswoman for the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss., says diseases are among known causes of so-called "abortion storms" in dolphins, when numerous females give birth prematurely.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Gulf Coast dolphin death toll rises to nearly 60

Gulf Coast dolphin death toll rises to nearly 60

(Reuters) - The death toll of dolphins found washed ashore along the U.S. Gulf Coast since last month climbed to nearly 60 on Thursday, as puzzled scientists clamored to determine what was killing the marine mammals.

By Leigh Coleman

Thu Feb 24, 2011 7:44pm EST

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) - The death toll of dolphins found washed ashore along the U.S. Gulf Coast since last month climbed to nearly 60 on Thursday, as puzzled scientists clamored to determine what was killing the marine mammals.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared the alarming cluster of recent dolphin deaths "an unusual mortality event," agency spokeswoman Blair Mase told Reuters.
"Because of this declaration, many resources are expected to be allocated to investigating this phenomenon," she said.
Although none of the carcasses bore outward signs of oil contamination, all were being examined as possible casualties of petrochemicals that fouled the Gulf of Mexico after a BP drilling platform exploded in April 2010, rupturing a wellhead on the sea floor, officials said.
Eleven workers were killed in the blast, and an estimated 5 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) of crude oil spilled into the Gulf over more than three months.
As of Thursday, the remains of 59 dolphins, roughly half of them newly born or stillborn calves, have been discovered since January 15, on islands, in marshes and on beaches along 200 miles of coastline from Louisiana east across Mississippi to Gulf Shores, Alabama, officials said.
That tally is about 12 times the number normally found washed up dead along those states during this time of the year, which is calving season for some 2,000 to 5,000 dolphins in the region.
"We are on high alert here," said Moby Solangi, director of the private Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi. "When we see something strange like this happen to a large group of dolphins, which are at the top of the food chain, it tells us the rest of the food chain is affected."
At least 29 of the specimens recovered in recent weeks have been positively identified as bottlenose dolphins.
Solangi said that scientists from his organization have performed full necropsies, the animal equivalent of autopsies, on about a third of the roughly two dozen dead calves.
"The majority of the calves were too decomposed to conduct a full necropsy, but tissue samples were collected for analysis," he said.
The latest wave follows an earlier tally of 89 dead dolphins -- virtually all of them adults -- reported to have washed ashore in 2010 after the Gulf oil spill.
Results from an examination of those remains, conducted as part of the government's oil spill damage assessment, have not been released, though scientists concluded those dolphins "died from something environmental during the last year," Mase said.
"The number of baby dolphins washing ashore now is new and something we are very concerned about," she added.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Fourth baby dolphin found dead on Horn Island (Updated 11:10 a.m.)

By KAREN NELSON - klnelson@sunherald.com

HORN ISLAND -- The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies has confirmed that a fourth baby dolphin has washed ashore on Horn Island,
The island, one of the longest in the chain that comprises the Gulf Islands National Seashore Park, is about 12 miles south of Ocean Springs.
Three baby dolphins were pinpointed Monday and a fourth was reported today by National Resource Advisory employees who are working with BP cleanup crews on the island.

SUN HERALD - AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD Dr. Connie Chevis, DVM, left, and Dr. Joey Kaletsch, DVM, take samples while performing a necropsy on a dolphin calf at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport on Monday, February 21 2011. The calf, who is believed to be about four days old, was killed by trauma. Mobi Salangi, executive director for the institute, says there is an unusually high number of dolphin calf deaths for this time of year. They have recovered 17 calves and are performing necropsies to determine the causes of death.

CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

Researchers with the IMMS are headed to the island now to take tissue samples and possibly remove the bodies back for studies.
These infant dolphins are among the 18 reported since January.
The four are also among the 28 total adult and infant dolphins reported since the beginning of the year. None of the dead adults were pregnant females.
The industry’s leading scientist on marine mammal strandings is concerned about these deaths.
Blair Mase, NOAA’s marine mammal stranding coordinator for the Southeast region, confirmed that the number of baby dolphin deaths is high.
She said the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies reports all its findings to her.
So far this calving season, 18 infant dolphins have either been stillborn or died shortly after birth.
“We’re definitely keeping a close eye on this situation,” Mase said. “We’re comparing this to previous years, trying to find out what’s going on here.”
She said this is the time of the year that she sees death in young dolphins, because it is the beginning of the birthing season. But really, the normal birthing season is a little later in the year, she said.
“We’re trying to determine if we do in fact have still births,” she said. There are more in Mississippi than in Alabama and Louisiana.
“With the oil spill, it is difficult,” she said. “We’re trying to determine what’s causing this. It could be infectious related. Or it could be non-infection.
“We run the gamut of causes,” she said, including human impact, which would include the oil spill; infectious disease and bio-toxins,
IMMS has been conducting necropsies on the baby dolphins and sharing the findings with Mase.
Read more about this story later today at sunherald.com. Reporter Karen Nelson and photo journalist Amanda McCoy are on Horn Island today and will be reporting exclusively on what’s happening on the island.

5 more dead dolphins

Posted: Wednesday, 23 February 2011 7:30AM

5 more dead dolphins

Associated Press Reporting

Scientists have now found a total of 19 dead baby dolphins along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast.

The latest discover was four dead baby dolphins on Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

The Sun Herald reports another was found on Ono Island off Orange Beach, Ala.

Scientists are scurrying to find a cause. Researchers took tissue samples from the dolphins.

Institute for Marine Mammal Studies director Dr. Moby Solangi says the cause could be anything, including the cold weather or a change in food habits. Scientists have not ruled out possible
effects from the BP oil spill.

Scientists said so far, four calves in January and 15 in February have been found dead along Mississippi and Alabama shores.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Infant dolphins dying in high numbers (Updated 4:15 p.m.)

GULFPORT -- Baby dolphins, some barely three feet in length, are washing up along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines at 10 times the normal rate of stillborn and infant deaths, researchers are finding.
The Sun Herald has learned that 17 young dolphins, either aborted before they reached maturity or dead soon after birth, have been collected along the shorelines.
The Institute of Marine Mammal Studies performed necropsies, animal autopsies, on two of the babies today.

AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD Dr. Connie Chevis, DVM, left, and Dr. Joey Kaletsch, DVM, take samples while performing a necropsy on a dolphin calf at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport on Monday, February 21 2011. The calf, who is believed to be about four days old, was killed by trauma. Mobi Salangi, executive director for the institute, says there is an unusually high number of dolphin calf deaths for this time of year. They have recovered 17 calves and are performing necropsies to determine the causes of death.

CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

Moby Solangi, director of the institute, called the high number of deaths an anomaly and told the Sun Herald that it is significant, especially in light of the BP oil spill throughout the spring and summer last year when millions of barrels of crude oil containing toxins and carcinogens spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.
Oil worked its way into the Mississippi and Chandeleur sounds and other bays and shallow waters where dolphins breed and give birth.
This is the first birthing season for dolphins since the spill.
Dolphins breed in the spring and carry their young for 11 to 12 months, Solangi said.
Typically in January and February, there are one or two babies per month found in Mississippi and Alabama, then the birthing season goes into full swing in March and April.
“For some reason, they’ve started aborting or they were dead before they were born,” Solangi said. “The average is one or two a month. This year we have 17 and February isn’t even over yet.”
Deaths in the adult dolphin population rose in the year of the oil spill from a norm of about 30 to 89, Solangi said.
Solangi is gathering tissue and organs for a thorough forensic study of the infant deaths and is cautious about drawing conclusions until the data is in, probably within a couple of weeks.
“We shouldn’t really jump to any conclusions until we get some results,” Solangi said. “But this is more than just a coincidence.”
The institute told the Sun Herald that it has collected 14 infant dolphins in the last two weeks and three in Mississippi today.
The institute has done a number of the autopsies, but no trend has emerged yet.
“Of the two calves on the table today, one appears to have had trauma,” Solangi said. “It was a very small calf.”
But he said that trauma to the body often occurs after a baby has died because the mother or other dolphins try to get the baby to breathe.
“I don’t believe the calf died because something hit it,” Solangi said.
“Some of the trauma you see in a baby dolphin death is the result of the mother or other animals around it trying to get it back. They don’t realize it’s dead until sometime later,” he said.
Read more about the infant dolphin deaths in Tuesday’s Sun Herald.