Dolphin SOS Spurs Rescue – Georgia Wildlife Blog

A bottlenose dolphin seen for more than a decade in Georgia waters will live to be seen again, thanks to an alert boater and a speedy response.

On April 30, the boater reported a dolphin entangled in line attached to a crab trap near Cumberland Island. Marine Mammal Program staff from DNR’s Wildlife Conservation Section answered with a small team of biologists from the agency and the Jekyll Island Authority. The responders found the animal tired and barely able to surface and breathe.

They removed the line knotted around the peduncle, assessed the dolphin’s body condition, photographed wounds from the entanglement and any unique scars, then gently released the dolphin. They later tracked it swimming with other dolphins.

Many bottlenose dolphins can be identified through notches and scars on their dorsal fin, as well as scars on other parts of their body. The rescued dolphin was identified after its release by dorsal fin photos and a scar from a shark bite on its body.

Using the dorsal fin photographs, staff also identified the dolphin as a male that had been biopsied during a previous research project in the area and since 2014 had been documented 14 times in Georgia.

Here’s hoping he is seen for many more years to come.

This wasn’t DNR’s first dolphin rescue, of course. Check out the video below of a similar situation that ended well in 2021. For more details on that incident, see this issue of Georgia Wild, a monthly DNR e-newsletter.

Please report entangled, injured or dead dolphins to DNR at (800) 2-SAVE-ME (800-272-8363). Include the date, time and location, plus the coordinates, if possible.

DNR monitors dolphin mortality through the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. The information gleaned, including from necropsies to evaluate the cause of death, provides the primary index for threats these animals face in Georgia.