Dolphins in the Tyrrhenian Sea, an unexplained massacre. Perhaps it was excessive heat, or a virus like measles.

Since the beginning of 2019, 34 have already died, and 28 in 2018. All of them had empty stomachs, as if they had been fasting for days. The heat has not been ruled out as a factor.

di |
dolphin massacre

DOLPHIN MASSACRE

The tragic death toll of Dolphins since Tyrrhenian sea rises dramatically: In ten days, twelve specimens were found stranded lifeless on the beaches of Liguria and Tuscany, and unfortunately the mortality shows no signs of stopping.

According to experts, a virus is responsible, a killer measles epidemic similar to the one that, in 2014, he killed around a hundred dolphins between Genoa and ElbaThis time, plastic does not appear to be responsible for the death of the cetaceans, a hypothesis confirmed by the analyses of theExperimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Piedmont, Liguria, and Valle d'Aosta. Examining one of the dolphin carcasses found, in fact, they found no traces of plastic waste in the stomach. Indeed, the stomach was empty, which had led to suspicions of illness, as if the dolphin had fasted due to a previous illness.

In just under a week, in Liguria alone, the specimens found dead with the completely red skin, there were 3: two bottlenose dolphins and a stenella, the younger sister of a dolphin, a thin and slender cetacean, typical of the Mediterranean Sea, which is often confused with its larger relative.

The alarm is raised: if the measles hypothesis were confirmed, it would mean the experts' essential impotence: being wild animals, it is extremely difficult to approach them, especially if they are suffering. Helping them, then, is a challenge, unless they are isolated and transferred to special centers.

ALSO READ: Anchovies, the waste of a predicted massacre. Meanwhile, the CNR produces Omega-3 from anchovy waste, using oranges.

dolphin massacre
Dolphin specimen found in San Rossore (Photo credits corriere.it)

DOLPHIN MASSACRE IN TUSCANY

The last specimen found, the thirty-fourth victim since January, was stranded on the beach of San Rossore Natural Park, in the province of Pisa, but days earlier, off the coast of Viareggio, a sailor had raised the alarm regarding a dead baby dolphin floating in the water, watched over by its peers. A heartbreaking scene, because, as ethologists explain, Dolphins are animals with emotions and feelings.

Other hypotheses to explain the summer mortality of these friendly cetaceans, protagonists of every self-respecting marine tale, are linked to the results of the analyses carried out on the bodies. CNR researchers they think, in addition to a very virulent form of measles, of a particular form of pathogen proliferated following temperature spikes, or even a underwater noise pollution phenomenon, which causes damage to the dolphins' radar orientation system, preventing them from reaching food and therefore condemning them to death by starvation.

STORIES OF ANIMALS TO BE SAVED:

 

Want to see a selection of our news?

Don't Waste