2023-08-24 05:59:06
When members of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s marine mammal team arrive on a Cape Cod beach to help a stranded dolphin or porpoise, they have no choice but to treat the animal on the spot and immediately release it.
But that is regarding to change.
The organization, which protects animals around the world, will open the first short-stay dolphin hospital on Cape Cod this month and hopes it will not only improve survival rates, but also bolster the research it has conducted over the years. 25 years old.
The stranded marine mammals are stressed, paralyzed and dehydrated, explained Brian Sharp, director of the rescue team. Often, serving them on the spot is not enough. They need additional diagnosis, treatment, and recovery time.
“With this ICU for dolphins we will be able to give them the necessary treatment and release them quickly,” he added.
Although there are marine mammal rehabilitation centers that can care for the animals for months or even years, the goal is to return them to the ocean within four days, he said.
“This is the first time anything like this has been attempted,” Sharp said.
There are more live stranded marine mammals on Cape Cod than anywhere else in the world, he said. In the last five years alone, the Fund has responded to more than 400 live strandings of dolphins, whales and porpoises in the region, according to a statement from the organization.
Cape Cod is a good, albeit dangerous, habitat for dolphins. Its geography — essentially a hook-shaped sandbar jutting into the ocean — can make navigation difficult, and tides higher than 12 feet (3.5 meters) can quickly expose a mile of beach. .
The 4,200-square-foot (390-square-meter) Dolphin Rescue Center occupies renovated retail space in downtown Orleans.
It includes a rehabilitation area with two 15-foot (4.3-meter) treatment pools and a veterinary laboratory. Visitors will not be able to have direct contact with the animals cared for, but there is an educational center where they can follow their evolution through a monitor.
The privately funded center has passed inspection by federal authorities and expects to open by the end of the month, Sharp said.
“We want to take what we learn here and share it nationally and internationally,” he added.
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