Bob Carroll spotted something out the window of his Chappaquiddick home on Sunday morning that doesn’t happen every day. Originally, he saw a fin, and thought what we’d all be thinking on Amity Island on the eve of the Fourth of July: Shark.
“That would’ve been a lot more uncommon,” he said.
After closer inspection by his wife, they realized the sea creature was a dolphin.
Right in Carroll’s backyard is the Dike Bridge. The dolphin would’ve had to cross Cape Poge Bay before it reached the waters outside Carroll’s house.
“It hasn’t happened in a few years,” Carroll said about the rarity of spotting a dolphin in the bay.
On Sunday, Carroll was a bit concerned for the marine mammal. The last time, the dolphin died. He says the water is shallow nearby, about three feet deep. Soon after spotting it, Carroll alerted the Trustees of Reservations, who then contacted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he said.
He also posted a video to Facebook, and shortly after, he saw 30 or 40 cars over a few hours near Dike Bridge, with passengers trying to spot the dolphin.
Luckily, a little after noon, instead of traveling under the bridge and into Poucha Pond, where the dolphin would have most likely met its demise, the aquatic mammal swam north up the channel, and Carroll assumed it went safely back out to sea.
That’s a better fate than a large stranding that occurred on the Cape this weekend, where researchers say 125 dolphins were stranded. It was the largest single mass stranding that the International Fund for Animal Welfare has responded to in the nonprofit’s 26-year history. They were able to coax around 100 back into deeper waters, but more than a dozen died.
If you see a stranded, distressed, or dead marine mammal, contact a local stranding network partner, or call NOAA’s stranding hotline, 866-755-6622.
Glad that it returned to the ocean.
Could the opening be widened so that they can get back out safely?
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