4th Dolphin Dies In 1 Week On Jersey Shore, Ears Will Be Tested By Lab

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — It is now a total of four dolphins that washed up on beaches in Monmouth County last week — three died in the surf and the fourth, pictured above, was euthanized.

The fourth and most recent dolphin washed up Wednesday Feb. 22 on the banks of the Shrewsbury River. It was dying, and euthanized shortly after it was found, said Sheila Dean, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

As of Monday, what exactly caused all four animals to die has not been released by the state, she said. Dean runs the Brigantine-based non-profit that is the only group permitted by the federal government to retrieve a dolphin, whale or seal that washes ashore in New Jersey; anyone else who touches these animals could face federal charges.

The carcasses of all four dolphins are now at the Trenton Animal Health Diagnostic Lab, run by the New Jersey Dept. of Agriculture. A necropsy will be done on all four.

"There is no diagnosis yet, as additional tests are pending. The results could take a few weeks," said Dept. of Agriculture spokesman Jeff Wolfe.

"It is not unusual for them to take more than a week or several weeks to do a necropsy," said Dean. "The state lab is very busy right now and they are short-staffed. As we are considered the 'owners' of these animals, we are the only ones the state will release the cause of death to."

"When we know, we will publish it to our Facebook page," she said.

Outside lab will test dolphins' ear canals for damage

Also, new this winter is that the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has requested the New Jersey state forensic lab send ear tissue samples to an outside lab to do an analysis of the ears and other organs, said Dean.

Dean declined to say which outside lab will do the ear testing.

"That is all being handled by NOAA. All we do is pick up the animals," she said. "The ears are on ice, which is the most important."

This is in response to speculation by some that dolphins and whales are being harmed by sonar used to build thousands of wind turbines off the Jersey Shore — a major goal of Gov. Phil Murphy's. No causal link has been discovered between sonar use and whale/dolphin injury or death.

So far, 10 dead whales have washed ashore in New York and New Jersey since Dec. 5, which NOAA has said is an "unusually" high number of fatal whale beachings.

Three dolphins wash up Feb. 18, a fourth washes up Feb. 22

On Saturday morning, Feb. 18, three dolphins washed ashore on the bayside of Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area. Members of the public were clamoring to push the three dolphins back into deeper water, but Sandy Hook parks rangers prevented them from doing so.

All three dolphins died in the surf that same day.

Four days later, Feb. 22, another dolphin washed up in the Shrewsbury River.

Dean said by the time her team got to the Shrewsbury River Wednesday afternoon, "the (fourth) dolphin had already been pushed back into the water by members of the public."

Someone then called in seeing "two to three dolphins possibly in distress in the river at Hartshorne Woods Park near Lower Rocky Point," however the caller could not provide a location or photos.

Monmouth County park rangers and a State Police boat searched for the dolphins, joined by Marine Mammal Stranding Center volunteer photographer Michael McKenna, using his drone.

As a result of the search, one male common dolphin was located approximately 150 yards from the pier, hidden by vegetation, around a bend along a narrow embankment in the marsh.

"The dolphin, which was still alive, was positively identified as the same individual that had been pushed out earlier, based on a distinctive notched-out wound on its peduncle," said the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

The dolphin was carried out of the marsh on a stretcher, and taken ashore by Stranding Center staff.

"After veterinary assessment it was determined that the dolphin was in poor body condition and very weak. The decision was made to humanely euthanize the animal to prevent further suffering," they wrote.

Despite calls — mostly from Republican elected officials and the advocacy group Clean Ocean Action — to halt wind turbine construction until it can be determined what is killing the animals, Gov. Murphy said last week that the construction of more than 3,000 wind turbines off New Jersey will continue.

“We don’t have the evidence. The feds are taking the lead on this. We take this very seriously, obviously. In the absence of evidence that this is the cause of this, we’re gonna continue to go on two tracks,” Murphy said last week, according to NJ.com. “We have to remember we are one of the most exposed American states (to climate change). And getting clean energy up and running as fast as possible is a huge imperative. But we take this seriously and we continue to do so.”

"We are again reminding the public to never push a stranded animal back into the deeper water, and to please call our 24-hour hotline immediately to report animals in distress," said the Marine Mammal Stranding Center after the fourth dolphin was found. "Pushing them back before trained professionals arrive delays or prevents any potential medical intervention, and prolongs suffering. Animals will often re-strand in a different location in worse condition, and as in this case, more difficult areas to access the animal for rescue."

Why We Ask You Avoid Beached Dolphins: Marine Mammal Stranding Center (Feb. 20)

3 Dolphins Washed Ashore At Sandy Hook Have Died (Feb. 20)