PHUKET: Marine biologists are engaged in a remarkable fight to save the life of a dolphin who was washed up close to death on a beach north of Phang Nga.
Reacting quickly, locals in Thai Muang, Phang Nga, alerted the Phuket Marine Biological Centre and the dolphin was carried south on Tuesday, a day after its discovery.
The seven-year old female striped dolphin is not able to swim, so it has been suspended in a harness in a pool. Specialist Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong says the dolphin had nothing in its stomach. so the Phuket marine biologists attached a tube to drip-feed the creature.
Blood tests showed the dolphin had a virus, so antibiotics are being used to treat the problem.
Abrasions and cuts on the creature's fins also require care.
So far, the dolphin seems to be responding but there is still no certainty about when it will be returned to the Andaman Sea.
However, it is getting 24-hour round the clock treatment of a kind that once would have been unimaginable.
Reacting quickly, locals in Thai Muang, Phang Nga, alerted the Phuket Marine Biological Centre and the dolphin was carried south on Tuesday, a day after its discovery.
The seven-year old female striped dolphin is not able to swim, so it has been suspended in a harness in a pool. Specialist Dr Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong says the dolphin had nothing in its stomach. so the Phuket marine biologists attached a tube to drip-feed the creature.
Blood tests showed the dolphin had a virus, so antibiotics are being used to treat the problem.
Abrasions and cuts on the creature's fins also require care.
So far, the dolphin seems to be responding but there is still no certainty about when it will be returned to the Andaman Sea.
However, it is getting 24-hour round the clock treatment of a kind that once would have been unimaginable.
"the dolphin had a virus, so antibiotics are being used to treat the problem"
Well, antibiotics do not kill viruses so I guess we will soon hear the animal is dead...
Posted by claude on August 5, 2012 19:50