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Rescuers Recovering Bodies
Now Saving Dolphins
Sherry Grant helps with the rescue of two dolphins that became trapped in the lagoon created by the tsunami
Phuket, Thailand
Monday, 3 January 2004
Efforts are underway to rescue two dolphins that were carried over the tree tops by the tsunami wave and then dumped into a lagoon. The dolphins were discovered when rescuers were retrieving three human bodies from the lagoon.
The dolphins, an adult and adolescent, apparently rode the tsunami into the previously dry lagoon. It now has seven meters of water in it. The lagoon is in Khao lak, which is one of the heaviest hit areas in Thailand. It lies on the mainland, just north of Phuket island.
The rescue efforts are being assisted by Sherry Grant, HSI's regional Director of HSI Asia. The plan is to carefully net the dolphins then lift them out of the lagoon on to stretchers and then put them in padded trucks to be transported to the ocean.
The dolphins were found on Sunday, but earlier attempts to rescue them failed. Grant learned of their plight from Edwin Wiek of the Wildlife Friends of Thailand. Wiek was coordinating the effort and had been working on it since they were first found. Also involved was Jim Styres, who heads the Myanmar Dolphin Project in Thailand. Styres has advised that these are Indian Humpback Dolphins (Sousa plumbea) and they must be handled very carefully as they can easily stress and become agitated.
The dolphin rescue work is being assisted by a rescue team from Athens Greece that is doing the in-water work.
Grant is in Phuket as part of an advance team sent there to assist with animal rescues and give what aid they can while at the same time accessing future needs. HSI is also sending advance teams to Aceh and Sri Lanka.
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