It’s not everyday that you walk down the beach and see a dolphin on shore. This is exactly what happened to my husband yesterday during his daily morning walk with our dogs at Playa Minas.

This little known beach (and we like it that way!) is a pristine, quiet beach area near Playa Conchal. We particularly like it because it is usually empty of beach goers and has caves and an estuary for exploring as well as some great snorkeling.

As Keith was walking the dogs, he noticed something rather large flapping about 100 meters in front of him. At first, he thought it was a regular fish. As he ran, with the dogs in tow, he realized it was a dolphin that had beached herself.

With the help of the waves, Keith was able to get the dolphin back into the water. However, it would only swim a small distance parallel to the shore and come back and beach herself once again.

This proved to be frustrating. He tried again, but to no avail. The fact that the dogs were barking at the dolphin also wasn’t helping matters any! Keith rushed home to drop off the dogs and inform me of what had happened during his morning walk. I couldn’t believe what had transpired in a matter of an hour. He was frantic and told me to call our vet, Gilbert Cavallini of Cavallini and Carvajal Veterinarians, and see if he could come.

I looked at the clock. It was 8:55 AM and they did not open until 9 AM. I left a message, but kept on calling until the receptionist finally answered. When I asked her if the doctor was in, she told me that he left on an emergency. I was disappointed until I found out that the emergency he left for was a beached dolphin at Playa Minas.

Within 20 minutes, Dr. Cavallini arrived with the cavalry in tow. The doctor brought two assistants to help with bringing the dolphin onshore. Dr. Cavallini had told me that it was very rare for dolphins to beach themselves. This was only the third case he had seen in the past year. The last case was highly publicized as a dolphin had beached itself in Playa Tamarindo. They had put the dolphin in a tub, put it on a single engine plane and flew it to San Jose to his university’s research center.

This dolphin, was brought onshore with the help of a team of men. Dr. Cavallini was able to subdue the dolphin long enough to take a blood sample and give a large dose of antibiotics orally. The dolphin did not have any obvious signs of trauma.

The doctor explained that if a single dolphin strands itself, it usually is a very sick (and exhausted) animal. Such an animal often has some infections (pneumonia is almost always one of them) and a lot of parasites (worms in the nasal passages are very common). Sometimes these animals can be rehabilitated, but often they are so sick they won’t make it.

The dolphin was let back into the water, but once again beached herself. It was at this point that Dr. Cavallini decided it was best to evacuate the dolphin from the water. Keith luckily had his pick up truck at the beach. He was able to back the truck up near the water.

The group was able to pick up the dolphin and load her up in the truck and covered with wet towels. She was quickly transported to the vets office. When the dolphin arrived, Dr. Cavallini realized that the tub at the office was a little too small to accommodate the dolphin. The decision was made to transport her to his swimming pool right away.

Once the dolphin was put into the pool, she was observed by one of the vet techs. Several hours passed and unfortunately, she took a turn for the worse. It was decided, after it was discovered that the dolphin could no longer swim on her own, that the humane thing to do would be to end it’s suffering.

Even though the dolphin did not make it, it should be noted that Dr. Cavallini donates his time to efforts such as these. He also highly supports ongoing research of marine animals. Currently, there is not a place for these animals to be taken in our area, but hopefully that will change in the near future.

Dr. Cavallini is currently running tests to see what the dolphin was affected with. He suspects it was a massive infection, as this was what killed the last dolphin that had washed upon the shore of Playa Tamarindo.

Written by Rebecca L. Clower who was born in Chicago, grew up in Buffalo, NY and graduated from Arizona State University. Rebecca is fluent in Spanish, thanks to her mother who is “Tica.”

Costa Rica Realtor Video Interviews – Becky Clower:

• You can see a video interview with Becky Clower about investing in Costa Rica real estate here.
• You can also see a video interview with Becky Clower about living in Costa Rica here.

Rebecca started investing in real estate at 22 years of age and it became a passion, she is also a Realtor® and after rehabbing 40 homes and selling millions in real estate in Tampa, she relocated to Costa Rica to continue practicing her love for real estate, investing and to be closer to her family.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.