Community Corner
Dead Dolphin Washes Up On Jersey Shore Beach
The common dolphin, which washed up already dead, is the fourth dolphin stranding of 2024, according to Marine Mammal Stranding Center data.
AVALON, NJ — A common dolphin has washed up dead on a Jersey Shore beach, the fourth to do so in 2024.
The dolphin was found Monday on the beach in Avalon, according to a group called "Save the Dolphins and Whales NJ," who shared photos of the dolphin on Facebook.
According to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, the juvenile dolphin was found stranded dead with "some scavenging."
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It has been sent off for a necropsy to determine what exactly happened to it.
Video of the dolphin shared by Save the Dolphins and Whales NJ shows blood coming from a hole on its jaw and blood on a fin.
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Three other dolphins have been stranded dead so far this year, according to Marine Mammal Stranding Center data. One was washed out with the tide and unable to be relocated. Another was pregnant and necropsy revealed net and cut marks on its head and body. The third had "very dark" lungs and its stomach and GI tract were empty.
Critics, including the anti-wind group Save the Dolphins and Whales NJ, have blamed these and other marine mammal deaths over the past year on offshore wind turbine construction. However, there is no solid evidence linking the two, and no construction has actually begun on turbines.
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