One of two puzzling bay dolphins dies

Marisa O’Neil

Scientists at the Back Bay Science Center are hoping to happily end a

sad event -- the death of a dolphin that had made a temporary home in

the bay.

Two dolphins off Pearson’s Port fish shop attracted crowds of

onlookers and the interest of experts for at least two months. For

the past few weeks, only one dolphin appeared in the area, and a

dolphin carcass found last week appears to be the other animal, said

John Scholl, environmental scientist with the California Department

of Fish and Game.

Volunteers found the dead dolphin during Coastal Cleanup Day at

the Back Bay Science Center on Sept. 18, Scholl said.

“We’re all sad about it,” he said. “Nobody wanted to see it dead.”

The animal appeared to have been dead at least a week, marine

mammal expert Dennis Kelly said. It was too far gone to determine the

gender, age or cause of death, he said.

“It was an adult animal,” Kelly said. “There was a chance it was

an older animal that died of old age. I don’t think it died because

it was in the bay.”

Scholl helped bury the decomposing, 6-foot carcass and hopes to

immortalize the dolphin at the Back Bay Science Center with the help

of Kelly.

“The plan is, after getting permission from the federal

government, to dig the animal up, clean it up, rearticulate the

skeleton and build an exhibit, probably with information about the

animal -- when it was alive, where it was and its historical value,”

Kelly said.

Scholl hopes to have the exhibit in place by the middle of next

year.

Kelly, a marine biology professor at Orange Coast College, had

been studying the dolphins with his students since they first heard

reports in August about dolphins in the bay. People reported seeing

the animals as long as three weeks before that.

It was the first time Kelly had heard of dolphins so far inside

the bay for an extended period of time.

Kelly expressed concern for the animals last month because many

onlookers were trying for a closer look, possibly disrupting the

dolphins’ natural behavior. The carcass appeared to have propeller

cuts, but “that doesn’t prove anything,” he said.

“Who’s to say it wasn’t already dead?” Scholl said.

The remaining dolphin seems to be thriving and in no immediate

danger, Kelly said. It appears to be about 2, he said.

“I think that in the time they were there, the older one was

teaching the younger one how to catch fish,” he said.

Kelly has now heard reports of other dolphins swimming in the bay,

possibly visiting the remaining dolphin.

The area has plenty of fish, and there is no reason to fear for

the dolphin’s safety, Kelly said. Interfering with a marine mammal’s

normal behavior is a violation of federal law.

“Our policy for free-swimming animals, unless we know for sure

their health is compromised, is to leave them alone,” said Joe

Cordaro, wildlife biologist for the National Marine Fisheries

Service. “We don’t chase them out of wherever they swim into. If

there were reports it was starving to death, we might think about

putting a team together to capture it, but it’s still a hands-off

situation.”

Even feeding the animals is against the law, Cordaro said.

One woman apparently tried to feed the remaining dolphin anchovies

and salmon fillets, Kelly said. The dolphin didn’t take any.

“That’s definitely illegal,” Cordaro said. “If we knew who it was,

we would try to prosecute them.”