White sided dolphins strand yet again in Weisdale Voe    July 2007
                                   

On Friday 20 July 2007 we were called by local SSPCA inspector Ron Patterson who told us that one of the two Atlantic white-sided dolphins which had been swimming all week in Weisdale Voe, on Shetland’s west side, had stranded.
The call came in at 8am, but with two young seal pups to look after and a houseful of volunteers to organise, it was late morning by the time Jan, Pete, Maya (Jan’s grand daughter) and Mariko, from Japan, set off in our LandRover for the 30 mile journey from Hillswick to Weisdale.By the time we reached the voe the female dolphin had been put down "humanely". A local crofter, under the guidance of Ron, had shot her. They had tried several times to push her back into the water, but she kept coming straight back to strand. The male that was with her also tried to strand itself, but they managed to keep him in the sea.The dead dolphin’s body was hauled across the voe and we helped to bring her up to the road and load her on to the pick up which had been brought to the scene by Scottish Natural Heritage, who are sending her off to the SAC Veterinary & Advisory Service for a post mortem.Meanwhile Jonathan Swale and another SNH employee were herding the male dolphin back out of the voe. He was clearly reluctant to leave, and as soon as SNH left he swam straight back in to the shallows.The four of us stayed all afternoon, watching the dolphin swim in ever decreasing circles. It was becoming weaker and weaker, finding it harder and harder to keep upright, its breathing becoming shorter and more stressful all the time.Weisdale Voe is beside a busy road and there was a constant stream of vehicles driving past, many stopping to have a look at the distressed creature. When no one was there it looked as if the dolphin would beach, but as soon as a crowd turned up it went back into the middle of the voe.
At around 6pm we decided to head off to Lerwick to get some food. Jan however decided to stay to keep an eye on the dolphin. She had a feeling that it was nearing the end.
While Pete, Maya and Mariko were getting food, the dolphin got stuck on a sand bank as the tide was going out. It started to thrash violently. Blood started to spurt from its rear end. A crowd gathered to watch in horror as it went through its death throes. It took about 20 minutes before it finally died.
It was a terrible death to witness, but at least it was a natural death. Many people might think it is best to "put a creature out of its misery", but that can often be because we do not wish to witness the pain of a creature suffering.

Wild animals know how to die. This male dolphin wanted to beach when its mate first stranded. Had it happened during the night when no people were around, both creatures would probably have died together. Who knows, by trying to herd the male out of the voe we may only have been prolonging the inevitable and perhaps extending its suffering. It’s very difficult to know when you are actually helping a wild creature and when you are interfering and making matters worse. But with each experience we learn more, though the final decision is always left with the SSPCA.

Three years ago, in August 2004, five dolphins stranded in the same spot. Two were dead when we arrived first thing in the morning. A group of volunteers spent the rest of the day trying to encourage the others back to the open sea, but only one of them carried on swimming. Two became progressively weaker until a decision was taken to put them out of their agony.
We believe the fifth dolphin was a pregnant mother. Shortly after this stranding a mother and her calf stranded in the same voe. We believe this could have been the fifth dolphin and her baby, though we will never know for certain.
One thing is for sure, the bond between these creatures is incredibly strong and once one of a family has decided to die, the others often appear to lose their will to live.
There is much that we do not understand about these beautiful animals…not least why they keep returning to the same place. In 2005 two white-sided dolphins stranded in Weisdale Voe but two men on their way to work stopped and managed to save them and put them back out to sea. Since then there have been several dolphin sightings in this voe, but no strandings until now.
For us, whatever the outcome we always feel it an honour to have the opportunity to have such close contact with these creatures, though obviously we would much prefer to see them head safely back out to sea.

News........ Tragic story of Minke Whale, Scalloway June 2007