{"id":496269,"date":"2025-10-13T13:51:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/496269\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:51:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:51:15","slug":"dolphin-calf-rescued-after-spending-weeks-tangled-in-fishing-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/496269\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphin calf rescued after spending weeks tangled in fishing line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marine rescue groups have urged fishers to properly dispose of their equipment after freeing a bottlenose dolphin calf that spent weeks caught in fishing line off New South Wales.<\/p>\n

The calf, estimated to be about 10 months old, was first spotted by residents at Forster on the Mid North Coast, swimming next to its mother in a local waterway in late September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA) vice president Jessica Fox said drone vision later showed fishing line entangled around the tail of the calf.<\/p>\n

\"Dolphin<\/p>\n

Locals notified marine animal rescue organisation ORRCA in late September after noticing the calf. (Supplied: Sharyn Coffee, ORRCA)<\/p>\n

“It had fishing line wrapped around its tail, which collected debris \u2026 and as the days and weeks went on more debris was getting caught up in it and the dolphin was becoming slower,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Fox said ORRCA and other organisations kept a lookout for the calf, which has a distinctive dorsal fin.<\/p>\n

A Gold Coast-based Sea World Foundation team travelled to Forster over the October long weekend to try to free the dolphin but despite multiple searches, the mammal could not be found.<\/p>\n

\"Sea<\/p>\n

Sea World Foundation rescuers leapt to catch the dolphin calf before carefully removing the fishing line. (Supplied: Sea World Foundation)<\/p>\n

On Saturday, October 11 the calf and its mother were seen again, and the Sea World rescuers quickly returned to Forster, this time successfully reaching the young dolphin.<\/p>\n

Sea World Foundation head veterinarian Claire Madden said the team secured the animal alongside the rescue boat.<\/p>\n

“The trailing edge of the fishing line floating behind had been caught up in seagrasses and sea algae that was acting [like] a bit of an anchor and weight, which was causing the fishing line to dig deeper into the tail of the little one,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Dolphin<\/p>\n

The rescuers disentangled the dolphin near the boat as its mother stayed close by. (Supplied: Amelie Clarke, ORRCA)<\/p>\n

“It was a sad sight to see the injuries that a single strand of fishing line had caused to this individual, but it was the best feeling in the world to know we had removed it and given this little one a second chance at life.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dr Madden said there was good blood supply to the wound area, indicating the dolphin had a chance of healing and recovering well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I administered some medication before letting the dolphin swim off to reunite with Mum, who hung around for the duration of the operation,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Madden said the incident highlighted the need for people to dispose of rubbish and fishing gear responsibly.<\/p>\n

\"Dolphin<\/p>\n

The dolphin calf had only minimal injuries from the fishing line. (Supplied: Anita Horan, ORRCA)<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, the ocean is a big place, and too often we get calls that animals need intervention and need help, but we simply can’t find them, and it’s one of the most devastating parts of the job,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Fox said the mum and calf were expected to successfully reintegrate with other dolphins.<\/p>\n

“It’s from one of the local pods of bottlenose dolphins and we are hoping to continue monitoring this dolphin as the weeks and months and years go by,” she said.<\/p>\n

Coffs Coast Wildlife Sanctuary managing director Tiga Cross, who also runs fishing line waste removal project Seal the Loop, said about 1,500 marine animals were entangled in fishing line each year.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Rescuers say marine animals can mistake objects as something to play with. (Supplied: Anita Horan, ORRCA)<\/p>\n

“It is concerning we’re having more entanglement issues across the board,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

“It is an issue definitely for turtles and marine animals who are very inquisitive, mistaking that object as something to play with.”<\/p>\n

She said an increase in human activity and larger marine animal populations could be contributing to the rise in entanglements.<\/p>\n

“Any type of rope, net, fishing line, plastic bottle is a risk of entanglement, the animal can’t set themselves free, but they’re also ingesting these objects.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marine rescue groups have urged fishers to properly dispose of their equipment after freeing a bottlenose dolphin calf…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[98118,163262,163265,163264,163263,2178,24230,70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-496269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-goodnews","9":"tag-dolphin-calf-rescued-seaworld-rescue","10":"tag-entanglements","11":"tag-fishing-lines","12":"tag-forster","13":"tag-marine-life","14":"tag-oceans","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115367188603370979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}