Dolphin Rescue in Guanacaste

It’s not everyday that you walk down the beach and see a dolphin on shore.

This is exactly what happened to my husband yesterday during his daily morning walk with our dogs at Playa Minas. This little known beach (and we like it that way!) is a pristine, quiet beach area near Playa Conchal. We particularly like it because it is usually empty of beach goers and has caves and an estuary for exploring as well as some great snorkeling.

As Keith was walking the dogs, he noticed something rather large flapping

about 100 meters in front of him. At first, he thought it was a regular fish. As he ran, with the dogs in tow, he realized it was a dolphin that had beached herself. Keith, with the help of a local security guard and the assistances of the waves, was able to get the dolphin back into the water. However, it would only swim a small distance parallel to the shore and come back and beach herself once again. This proved to be frustrating to both Keith and

the guard. They tried again, but to no avail. The fact that the dogs were barking at the dolphin also wasn’t helping matters any! The guard feared that a local fisherman might want to take the dolphin and claim it as their catch of the day…so he kept close eye on here. Keith came home to drop of the dogs and inform me of the days events. I couldn’t believe what had transpired in a matter of an hour. He was frantic and told me to call our

vet, Gilbert Cavallini of Cavallini and Carvajal Veteranarians, and see if he could come.

I looked at the clock. It was 8:55 AM and they did not open until 9 AM. I left a message, but kept on calling until the receptionist finally answered. When I asked her if the doctor was in, she told me that he left on an emergency. I was disappointed until I found out that the emergency he left for was a beached dolphin at Playa Minas.

Within some 20 minutes, Dr. Cavallini arrived with the cavalry in tow. The doctor brought two assistants to help with bringing the dolphin onshore. Dr. Cavallini had told me that it was very rare for dolphins to beach themselves. This was only the third case he had seen in the past year. The last case was highly publicized as a dolphin had beached itself in Playa Tamarindo. They had put the dophin in a tub, put it on a single engine plane and flew it to San Jose to his university’s research center.

This dolphin, was brought onshore with the help of a team of men. Dr.Cavallini was able to subdue the dolphin long enough to take a blood sample and give a large dose of antibiotics orally. The dolphin did not have any obvious signs of trauma. The doctor explained that if a single dolphin strands, it usually is a very sick (and exhausted) animal. Such an animal often has some infections (pneumonia is almost always one of them) and a lot of parasites (worms in the nasal passages are very common). Sometimes these animals can be rehabilitated, but often they are so sick they won't make it. The dolphin was let back into the water, but once again beached herself. It was at this point that Dr. Cavallini decided it was best to evacuate the dolphin from the water. Keith luckily had his pick up truck at the beach. He was able to back the truck up near the water. The group was able to pick up the dolphin and load her up in the truck and covered with wet towels. She was quickly transported to the vets office. When the dolphin arrived, Dr.Cavallini realized that the tub at the office was a little too small to accommodate the dolphin. The decision was made to transport her to his swimming pool right away. Once the dolphin was put into the pool, she was observed by one of the vet techs. Several hours passed.

Unfortunately, last night the dolphin took a turn for the worse. It was decided, after the dolphin could no longer swim on her own, that humanely euthanizing it was the best thing to do.

Even though the dolphin did not make it, it should be noted that Dr. Cavallini donates his time to efforts such as these. He also highly supports ongoing research of marine animals. Currently, there is not a place for these animals to be taken in our area, but hopefully that will change in the near future.  Dr. Cavallini is currently running tests to see what the dolphin was affected with. He suspects it was a massive infection, as this