Race to save trapped tsunami dolphins

Rescuers were attempting today to save two dolphins trapped in a small lagoon created when tsunami waves swept them ashore in southern Thailand on St Stephen's Day.

The animals, believed to be a female Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and her three-year-old offspring, were spotted by a local man searching for his missing wife more than a mile from the coast. The larger one, about seven feet long, appeared to have been injured on her back.

“I reckon they came in with the initial wave, and when the water retreated, they couldn’t get back again,” said Edwin Wiek, a Dutchman who is director of the Wildlife Friends of Thailand Rescue Centre.

With no fish to feed on, “they might survive for a few days but not longer. We need to get them out.”

With the search for survivors on Thailand’s devastated south-western coast basically turning into recovery of bodies, the discovery of the two dolphins energised workers.

“That’s why we hope we get them out. That would be the only survivor story. We need one,” Wiek said.

Amid constant shouts, teams of about two dozen Greek divers tried to corner the dolphins in what used to be a small valley before the tsunami waters swept in and left a lagoon about five or six feet deep.

The goal was to get them into large black and green nets so they could be put into carriers and hauled to the sea.

But after one attempt failed, a marine biologist told them the nets were too small.

A radio broadcast went out asking fishermen to bring in larger nets to the isolated area, not far from the exclusive Sofitel resort in Khao Lak that was virtually flattened by the tsunami.

While the rescue attempt went on, about two dozen onlookers watched and volunteers spotted several human bodies in the brown vegetation, including one in the lake.

Thai Major Wipol Inthong said it was possible that an army aircraft might be asked to haul the dolphins to sea if they can’t be transported by truck.

Wiek said there are about 500-600 Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the seas around Thailand, and that they migrate between the Indian and Pacific oceans.

The discovery of the dolphins occurred as Wiek and other members of his group have been tending to animals affected by the tsunami. While few appeared to have died, some are roaming free. He said volunteers have distributed about 1,800 pounds of dog food.