A deaf dolphin has made a full recovery from a critical sunburn and has found a new home thanks to the care of a team of aquatic specialists in Louisiana.
Sassafras, as he was named after being rescued in March, was one of 768 marine animals rescued from the Gulf Coast after the 2010 BP oil spill and so far is the only known survivor.
But though he has overcome huge challenges, the two-year-old sea mammal’s impaired hearing is too risky for life in the wild and this week he has been transferred to the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) in Gulfport, Mississippi where he will live.
Happy days: Sassafras, a two-year-old deaf dolphin rescued off the Gulf Coast has recovered from critical sunburn at the Audubon Nature Institute thanks to rescuer Suzanne Smith
Rescuers estimate that Sassafras was born right around the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe though it is unknown whether he came to be stranded, blistered by the sun and deaf because of the polluted waters.
Suzanna Smith of the Audubon Aquatic Center where he was nurse back to life by a team of dedicated rescuers, told WWLTV: ‘Like so many other things, we’ll just never be able to tie it in.’
Dying: The dolphin was found stranded on a mud flat off Grand Isle blistered from sunburn in March and has become the only known survivor of 768 marine creatures stranded since 2010
Recovery: By September Sassafras had made an amazing recovery at the Audubon Aquatic Center but because of his hearing impairment, authorities will not allow him to be released into the wild
At 6.5ft, he was so weak that he was kept in shallow water and monitored around the clock for six months.
But because Bottlenose dolphins rely on echolocation for orientation and feeding, his chances of survival now that he is strong and healthy remain slim.
Dr Moby Solangi of the IMMS is excited to welcome the cute and playful Sassafras to his facility to continue his study of mammals.
He told WLOX: ‘Audubon did a great job of rescuing it and now we’re going to continue that rehabilitation for this animal. We are absolutely delighted.
Catastrophe: It is not known whether the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is the only reason Sassafras and other creatures like him have died by the hundreds in the last two years
‘This will become an important tool for educating the general public about the need to protect and conserve our environment.’
A marine biologist who has been examining the surge in deaths, Dr Solangi told Nature magazine of the exact cause: ‘We may not be able to say it was one thing or another. We do know that dolphins in the northern Gulf have been subjected to a number of environmental challenges in the past few years, and we do know that each one of those challenges will have affected their ability to deal with the others.’
A paper published in PLos ONE suggested that the combination of the oil spill, cold weather and melting snow entering the Mobile Bay is likely the reason.
New life: Because dolphins rely on echolocation for survival, life in the wild is too risky for Sassafras and he has been relocated to the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi
‘They’re mammals like you and I so by studying them we can then understand what’s going on in nature,’ he explained.
He went on to say that Sassafras will even be able to learn tricks and will soon be interacting with the public.
Suzanna Smith said: ‘He’ll be an ambassador for those other animals that live not only off the coast of Louisiana but in the Gulf Coast region.’
