{"id":50399,"date":"2016-10-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/dauphins-echoues-vivants-recit-dun-anticostien\/"},"modified":"2020-04-06T18:10:11","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T18:10:11","slug":"live-stranded-dolphins-story-from-an-anticosti-island-resident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/live-stranded-dolphins-story-from-an-anticosti-island-resident\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Stranded Dolphins: Story from an Anticosti Island Resident"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marine Mammal Emergencies has been busy since early fall, especially with incidents involving live stranded dolphins. On September 28, six white-sided dolphins<\/a> were trapped in a shallow bay in Lam\u00e8que, New Brunswick. The Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network<\/a> closely monitored the event and participated in discussions regarding response plans. One dolphin died, while the others returned to sea after several attempts lasting over a week. In the aftermath of a major storm in the Magdalen Islands, one dolphin was found stranded alive on Tuesday near Havre-aux-Maisons. Deemed to be in poor state of health, the animal was euthanized. On October 9, another stranding occurred on Anticosti Island, where three female white-sided dolphins beached themselves.<\/p>\n

What follows is the colourful tale of a volunteer who participated in the attempt to release the animals back into the water that day.<\/p>\n

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Quiet Sunday<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lots of time to read the papers before the arrival of the Bella<\/em> (Translator’s note: the Bella Desgagn\u00e9s<\/em>, a cargo and passenger carrier): La Presse+, Le Devoir from yesterday, and my new application of the Courrier International… The sun is back this morning, as is the wind. Tomorrow’s a holiday, so we’ll just laze around for a few hours!<\/p>\n

If it weren’t for this duck splashing around at mid-reef, sending water flying everywhere. This isn’t just a simple water bath, and I begin to suspect that it’s something even juicier! But we’re not in the mating season, my goodness!! I finally get up and take a look through the spotting scope; ahhh, a shark fin!?… in such shallow water?\u2026 in front of the house? But alas, the fin is accompanied by a horizontal tail, so it’s either a dolphin or a porpoise.<\/p>\n

I go upstairs to take some photos. The hapless white-sided dolphin was doing its best to free itself, but its belly was likely scraping the sand and it wasn’t moving anywhere, just squirming around a lot. Flicks of the tail, twists of the body, it turns onto its side… being stranded is an awful predicament for a marine mammal. In the process of taking pictures, I wound up noticing a second individual lying motionless, several dozen metres to the right. Well, now here we are with 2 beached dolphins.<\/p>\n