Seven stranded rough-toothed dolphins swam to freedom 14 miles offshore in the Florida Straits Tuesday as rescue volunteers released them back into deep waters after two months of rehabilitation.
KEY LARGO, Fla. — Seven stranded rough-toothed dolphins swam to freedom 14 miles offshore in the Florida Straits Tuesday as rescue volunteers released them back into deep waters after two months of rehabilitation.
The dolphins were part of a group of about 70 that beached themselves on March 2 in mud flats off Marathon in the Florida Keys. About half the creatures died in the mass stranding and many others did not survive efforts to rehabilitate them or were euthanized.
The Key Largo-based Marine Mammal Conservancy Inc., a nonprofit agency, rehabilitated a dozen of the dolphins and released seven Tuesday.
"It's the first time that seven rehabilitated marine mammals have ever been released simultaneously," said Lloyd Brown, vice president of the MMC, aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter that accompanied a seven-vessel flotilla of volunteers and federal, state and local officials.
"I'm feeling good about it. ... Now they're back to all the dangers of their lives."
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Volunteers gently guided the seven mammals -- stretched out on backboards of plywood and heavy plastic and bellies coddled in bright blue tarpaulins -- overboard into 600-foot waters. They dived nose first.
The creatures were tagged with radio tracking devices. Two, a male and a female, also had satellite tracking attached to their dorsal fins. The dolphins can swim 40 miles a day.
Five females -- including a year-old calf -- remain in a holding pen. The MMC plans to release the adults after nursing them back to health but the ailing calf is expected to remain in captivity.
"She doesn't have a mother to teach her to be a dolphin," Brown said.
Two other rough-toothed dolphins, fitted with tracking tags, were released in April.
CAUSE OF STRANDING INVESTIGATED
U.S. Navy and marine mammal biologists are investigating whether sonar used in U.S. Navy submarine training exercises in the Keys or a harmful algae bloom provoked the stranding.
Alex Costidis, a Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission marine mammal biologist in St. Petersburg, Florida, said biologists were waiting for lab results to determine cause of death with the mostly adult female and young mammals.
"It was one of the healthiest pods we've examined. Most had good fat stores. The pod as a whole looked very healthy," said Costidis, who conducted necropsies on some of the creatures.
One theory is the stranding could be related to active sonar bursts that may have disoriented the mammals, causing them to surface too quickly and suffer decompression sickness.
The submarine USS Philadelphia, based at Groton, Connecticut, conducted training exercises with Navy Seals in the Florida Keys several days before and on the day of the stranding.
The Navy has said it was unlikely sonar use caused the stranding.
Source: Reuters
