Brittas Bay News Item: Horses help save dolphin

HORSEPOWER CAME to the rescue at Brittas Bay on Tuesday when wildlife experts were unable to drive onto the beach to assist a stranded dolphin.

Dave Wall of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group had been notified of the unexpected visitor immediately after it was spotted by local man Terry Kavanagh at 10.30 a.m., but when he arrived at the beach around noon in a van carrying specialist equipment, he was unable to drive onto the strand because of barriers erected to keep vehicles away.

This led to him having to hitch a lift with two riders who had | been exercising their horses on the beach, but he says the slight | delay in no way impacted on the well-being of the stranded dolphin

The dolphin was already being attended to by local postman and wildlife enthusiast Mick Kelly, who had been with it in the water for over an hour by the time Dave arrived at the scene.

Ellen Hegarty of the Bray Veterinary Animal Hospital was also in attendance, and examination by herself and Dave determined that the dolphin - which was roughly two metres long and which weighed about 80kg - was in good health, despite its ordeal.

Dave - with the assistance of John McElhinney and Aileen Thornhil of the local sub-aqua club, and also from members of Wicklow Inshore Lifeboat -placed the dolphin in a tarpaulin and transported it out to calmer waters.

'We watched it swim around. We followed it for about an hour and a quarter because we wanted to see if it was able to keep and stay close to the surface, and its breathing rate seemed to be good. Ellen Hegarty came through on VHF radio to assess its condition, and based on her advice, as night was about to fall, we left it to swim out to sea,' said Dave.

It's not clear how the dolphin managed to find itself so close to the shores of Brittas Beach, though it is believed it had merely lost its way, confusing the coastal surf for the sea's waves. Despite yesterday's happy ending, locals have been keeping a watchful eye on the county's coastline this morning -just in case Wicklow's favourite mammal decides to make a return visit.

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