Fifteen staff rescue a stranded dolphin!

 Last Thursday, two Fifteen Cornwall staff members, Steve Wright and Elly Silburn, attended a live stranding at the North end of Perranporth beach.

Here is Steve’s account of what happened:

The dolphin was a male Rissos dolphin measuring 2.7 meters and it was estimated that he’d been on the beach since around 2.30am. Rissos are not very common to these waters and have a large rounded head rather than the “normal” beak type head.

When we arrived to meet the other marine mammal medics, the vet had already given the dolphin two injections to help with the minor injuries he had suffered. His breathing rate was very good so it  was decided we would go for a refloat. So we inflated the specially designed pontoon and carefully rolled the dolphin onto it. We then lifted and walked it into the
water. Once in the shallow surf, it took some time for the dolphin to get his bearings back, once he showed signs of coming round, we removed the pontoon. A couple of minutes later he suddenly found his fins and swam free. He followed the shallow water along the beach and for a short time it looked like he may re-beach, but then turned and headed for deep water. 8)

The whole rescue was organised by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, of which Fifteen have a number of trained medics on it’s staff.

 Last November staff helped successfully rescue a very distressed seal pup from Watergate Beach. Well done to everybody involved, another success story!

To read more, click to visit the BDMLR website >>