Page 14 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch October 18, 2013 Fatal Dolphin Reports Spike With Three Found In OCLast Week By SHAWN J. SOPER NEWS EDITOR The beach in the area of 26th Street was the scene of a dolphin stranding last Friday. The dolphin later died. First responders are pictured trying to comfort the dolphin. Photo by Tom Lurie facebook.com/TomLuriePhotographyAndFilm OCEAN CITY – Three more dolphins were discovered on the beach in Ocean City late last week and ultimately perished, although early indications are at least one of them was not related to the ongoing “unusual mortality event” and the moribillivirus associated with the massive deaths. Two bottlenose dolphins washed up on the beach in Ocean City last Friday and early sample testing appears to indicate the deceased mammals were victims of the rare morbillivirus responsible for a massive die-off of dolphins in the midAtlantic region through much of the summer and early fall. A third dolphin washed up on the beach last Friday was not a bottlenose dolphin, but instead was what is referred to as a common dolphin. The third dolphin was alive on the beach as first responders frantically tried to save it and keep it alive for transportation to the National Aquarium in Baltimore for potential treatment and rehabilitation, but it ultimately perished during the response. First responders were on the scene trying to provide comfort to the dolphin while animal rescue personnel were in route. “The Maryland Department of Natural Resources responded to two carcasses on the beach on Friday and both were bottlenose dolphins,” said National Aquarium Stranding Coordinator Jen Dittmar this week. “The third dolphin that stranded on the beach was a live common dolphin, but it eventually died during the response. We don’t typically see common dolphins this time of year, which made that stranding a little unusual.” Since at least mid-July, NOAA Fisheries Stranding Network members, including the National Aquarium’s Marine Animal Rescue Program (MARP) and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), have been responding to an alarming increase in bottlenose dolphin strandings and the trend has not abated. In fact, bottlenose dolphin strandings increased dramatically over the historic statistical average during July and August, and although there has been some leveling off, the strandings on the beach in Ocean City last Friday along with dozens of others along the beaches of Maryland’s mid-Atlantic neighbors are evidence the alarming trend continues. SEE NEXT PAGE