Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

Between April 2006 and November 2007 a solitary bottlenose dolphin made her home off the south coast town where I live. Initially thought to be male she was named Dave and this name stuck despite her being confirmed as a female in the summer of 2007. It is unknown why highly social dolphins occasionally leave their family pods and become solitary, often frequenting areas of human activity. What is known is that in UK waters, and particularly in recent years, they are vulnerable. Of the 4 solitary dolphins reported in 2006, 2 are dead and 1 seriously injured.

Not surprisingly, Dave attracted a great deal of attention. Most people were content to watch her from shore, some wanted to make friends with her and some saw her as a path to spiritual and physical healing. Swimming with dolphins always comes high in top ten things to do before you die polls and on seeing Dave many people’s first reaction was to get into the water with her.

Initially Dave was not interested in people or boats but did become attached to a very small area from which she rarely ventured. This meant she was very easy to approach and over several months the dolphin became habituated to humans and by May 2007 was actively seeking human company. Dave became a local celebrity and was feted by local business as a tourist attraction. People travelled considerable distances to watch or swim with her and boats would follow her around trying to get her bow-riding. However, a coalition of marine conservation organisations felt that Dave’s tameness put her at risk and initiated a public outreach campaign asking people to leave the dolphin alone and watch her from shore. Mark Simmonds, International Director of Science for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said: "Unfortunately, it has now become very clear that the more dolphins learn to interact with people, the more at risk of being harmed they become. We must make every effort not to "socialise" dolphins”.

Others thought that people swimming with Dave were being unfairly criticised and that the real danger to the dolphin, if any danger existed, actually came from motor boats and jet-skis.

During the summer of 2007 Dave sustained a few minor injuries from boat propellers and in October received a very serious injury to her tail fluke losing a large piece. It was initially reported that this was a result of boat propeller strike but several dolphin experts who examined photos of the injury have suggested that entanglement in monofilament fishing line is a more likely cause. In November 2007 she disappeared and there have been no confirmed sightings since.

For more information on solitary dolphins:

www.wdcs.org
www.irishdolphins.com

All the following images (except the vet treatment) were taken from land.