This article is from page 6 of the 2014-11-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
the onset of winter.
It is unclear if the dolphin was alive when it was initially washed ashore at Fanore, but the body was badly damaged when it was discover by a member of the public on Monday.
“It looks like a striped dolphin, a species that is frequently stranded, often alive, but rarely observed in Irish waters. They are an offshore pelagic species occurring in deep water,” said Simon Berrow of the Clare based Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).
“They typically occur in warmer waters than Ireland and the increase in stranding records could be due to a warming of our waters associated with climate change.”
The IWDG co-ordinate the cetacean stranding scheme in Ireland and ask that all sightings of stranded dolphins, whales and porpoises are reported to them by email on strandings@iwdg.e or online on www. iwdg.ie.
The group have a network of recorders who visit stranded animals to record species, length and gender for long term monitoring.