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06/11/2015 03:18 PMOn June 11, three Branford residents hauled a rare find to shore—a large dolphin carcass, about eight feet in length and an estimated 400 pounds, found in the Thimble Islands.
Residents Kenny Wynne, Alex King, and Spencer Rentas brought the big mammal to shore in Pine Orchard at about 10 a.m. and notified the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and Mystic Aquarium. The carcass was found washed against rocks at Governor's Island and the three young men decided to bring it to shore in Pine Orchard to see if authorities could determine why it died.
The Sound
followed up with Mystic Aquarium the next day and learned that the carcass was too extensively decayed for the cause of death to be determined, according to Dr. Allison Tuttle, who heads up Mystic Aquarium's Animal Rescue program. Tuttle's response was relayed to The Sound by Mystic Aquarium's Director of Public Relations, Dale Wolbrink.
"Our team was deployed to the site of the stranding in Branford. Upon examination, the remains are in an advanced state of decomposition which will prevent us from discerning the cause of death. And, while it is believed to be a common dolphin, based on the condition the determination is not conclusive," Wolbrink told
The Sound.
State Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) officers responding to the scene on June 11 said the dolphin stranding was an "very unusual" for this area. King, who works summers at the Pine Orchard Yacht & Country Club and grew up on the Sound working with his father, local lobsterman D.J. King, said he's never seen dolphin in Branford.
"I just want to know why they're down here," said King. "In my 19 years of existence, I haven't seen anything like this."
King said Wynne spotted the carcass first while taking a jet ski run in the Thimble Islands that morning.
"I was working on a couple of boats for my job and Kenny came flying over to me on his jet ski and said, 'You're never going to believe what I just saw,'" said King. "He took me out to Governor's Island and there was this massive thing. It looked like a canoe turned over on its back."
The two took some quick photos of the dolphin as they'd found it and then set about trying to bring it to shore so it could be examined by experts.
"We wanted to know why it was out here in the first place, and why it died," said King. "We've heard there's been dying bunker in the area, so maybe it ate some and got sick, or it could just be it died of old age."
Wynne and King tied a line around the dolphin's tail fin, but found the carcass was too heavy to be hauled off the rocks by jet ski. They returned to the yacht club to seek assistance from Rentas, the club's harbor master. An outboard engine with more horsepower, manned by Rentas, was able to power the carcass off the rocks and bring it to shore in Pine Orchard.
DEEP officers Stephen Stanko and Todd Chemacki responded to the report received from the trio at approximately 10 a.m. and were the first officials to arrive at the scene.
"We observed the animal and took some measurements," said Stanko, speaking to
The Sound on June 11 while awaiting Mystic Aquarium experts also called to the scene. "It didn't look like it was molested, no gunshot wounds, no prop [propeller] damage that I could ascertain. It looks like a mature animal to me. I'm not a biologist by any means, so I don't know the cause. It could be old age; it could be anything. Hopefully Mystic can do some kind of necropsy and ascertain the particulars."
Wynne confirmed for the DEEP that the dolphin had no physical damage apparent when it was found. The dolphin's loss of outer skin in many places was likely caused when the carcass washed against rocky outcroppings like those in the area where it was located at Governor's Island.
Stanko said the DEEP receives calls on unusual sightings in Long Island Sound, including recently hearing word of a beluga whale spotted near the Race, a popular fishing ground. He said DEEP responded earlier last week to a call concerning a "large fish" spotted in the Thimbles, although there's no way of knowing whether that call was instead about this dolphin.
"Our department took a call on this I believe yesterday, and [the callers] weren't certain what it was; it was just reported to be in the Thimble Islands and they weren't sure if it was alive or in some need. So we had someone come out, and it wasn't located. It was reported as a 'large fish,' so it may have been this dolphin seen yesterday, or it could have been [a] fish."
Chemacki said to find this type animal in the area was "very unusual."
By all appearances, the cetacean appeared to be a bottlenose dolphin, one of the most recognizable types of dolphins.