18-07-2025
Kerry town rallies together for a ‘fin-tastic' dolphin rescue
Thanks to the efforts of the quick thinking locals, members of the Ballybunion Sea & Cliff Rescue service along with volunteers from the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group (IWDG), all of whom were united in 'porpoise', came armed with buckets, wellies, and quick thinking, they dove headfirst into action to ensure that the dolphin was returned safely to sea.
Omar Fitzell from the Ballybunion Sea & Cliff Rescue Service spoke to The Kerryman on Friday about the wholesome rescue tail.
"It was definitely an eventful afternoon, but thankfully, we all got it back into the water safely. It wasn't just down to us to be fair, we received a request from Irish Whale & Dolphin Group (IWDG) to assist in the rescue, and in fairness, there were a lot of locals already there when our lads went down to help,' he said.
"Three or four of our lads went down with our jeep and with buckets for water, and everyone just mucked in, it was a real group effort,' he continued.
"The most important thing is to keep it wet, and after that, the big thing is to contact the Irish Whale & Dolphin Group. Even we as an organisation don't have the know-how of what to do in a situation like that. They [the IWDG] have a 24-hour live line, a line that you can ring 24 hours a day, and they'll give you advice in relation to whatever animal has been beached.
"They then deploy their own members to it. We're lucky in that we have one or two members of the group here in North Kerry. They have people all over the country, so they're fairly well able to respond pretty quickly,' he added.
Omar joked that while everyone knows how beautiful dolphins are, many probably aren't aware how heavy they are until you try to lift them!
"The biggest thing they need is people, they need lots of people around to help out because that dolphin, it probably weighed between 80 and 100kg. They're big, heavy of course, but heavy!" he laughed.
"What we did was we put a lifting sheet underneath the dolphin and got it onto it, and then we got him out into the water and allowed him to swim off. There was not a bother on him and off he went. He thankfully wasn't sick, and we imagine what happened to him was that he was probably chasing something, and there are a lot of rocks out in that area, so he probably got disoriented and found himself washed up,' he said.
Concluding, Omar shared the advice from the IWDG on what people should do if they come across a stranded animal on the beach:
'If you see a live stranded animal, call the IWDG Live Stranding Hotline on 097 28118. You will be asked for a GPS location (Google pin), photos, and videos, and given advice on what to do while IWDG Tasks volunteers to assist. NEVER drag an animal by the tail, as this can cause them injury and, in some cases, dislocations. Keep the area calm and quiet.'
