Dolphins ashore: nothing unusual'

KOCHI: The forest department officials say that there is nothing unusual in a dolphin being washed ashore on Puthuvype beach on Sunday. Dolphins come under the jurisdiction of the forest department. “The dolphin which was sighted in the Nayarambalam canal was weak and old, and it was brought back to sea at Njarackal by the local fishermen. But it could not survive in the sea,” said assistant conservator of forests K.J. Martin Lowel. A team under Mr Martin unsuccessfully tried to repatriate the dolphin to the sea.

He said that when dolphins become old or weak it becomes difficult for them to catch their prey fishes in the sea and survive there. “Then they stray into estuaries and backwaters where it is easy for them to catch smaller fishes. Such dolphins sometimes stray into canals from there unknowingly, and the present one was such a case,” he said. The dolphin was first sighted live at Edavanakkad Aniyil Canal here and then in Punchathodu Canal in Nayarambalam. The fishermen brought it out to the sea as dolphin’s presence caused inconvenience to the local people and also those using the  canal for various purposes.