COUNTYWIDE : Navy Asked to Help Save Ill Dolphins

The man who organized the largest count of bottlenose dolphins ever conducted in the United States is attempting another project involving dolphins, but this time he must win the cooperation of the U.S. Navy.

Dennis Kelly, a professor of marine biology at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, wants to establish a dolphin halfway house where sick animals can be treated and the effects of sewage dumping on local dolphins can be assessed.

The center would also provide a place where dolphins captured for research or for shows can be readapted to the wild and set free.

But the best location for the project happens to be Anaheim Bay, within an area controlled by the U.S. Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach.

“There is no other location in Orange County that has clean water, is accessible yet protected,” Kelly said. “You can’t put this up in Newport Harbor or Dana Point. There are too many boats and too many people.”

The Navy is considering Kelly’s proposal, but a decision may be several months away, according to Scott McDonald, director of the Anaheim Bay National Wildlife Refuge situated inside the weapons station.

McDonald said he had discussed the proposal with Kelly and presented it to administrative officers, but would not speculate on the likelihood of approval.

Kelly’s studies have shown that dolphins living off the Orange County coastline are severely affected by pollution, and he wants to prevent last year’s mass dolphin deaths on the East Coast from happening here.

“After 2,000 dead dolphins washed up on beaches last year from New Jersey to Florida, a fact-finding commission was given $2 million to find out why. I’m trying to raise $200,000 to try to prevent a similar occurrence here,” Kelly said. “In fact, the real question to be answered is why it hasn’t happened already.”

A recent necropsy of a dolphin found on a local beach revealed that it “suffered several pathologies, (any) one of which would kill you or I,” Kelly said. The dolphin had pneumonia, ulcers, a cancerous liver tumor and enlarged lymph glands, indicating the mammal’s immune system was fighting off a major infection.

Similar findings were made during examinations of other adult, juvenile and baby dolphins found dead on Orange County beaches and indicates that “something is going on within the entire dolphin population here,” Kelly said.

The increasing popularity of swim-with-dolphin attractions at resort hotels is creating an even greater need for a place where uncooperative dolphins can be readapted to ocean living and released.

Dolphins no longer useful to scientific research facilities and dolphin shows are released into the ocean even though there is no evidence that they survive. Others, Kelly said, are warehoused until death in tanks at zoos, research facilities, even hotel swimming pools because there is no place where they can be rehabilitated or allowed to live out their lives semi-captive in an ocean environment.

Kelly said the Anaheim Bay facility would consist of floating docks, access ramps, netted ocean pens and a simple structure. The facility would be built and operated by Kelly through the Orange Coast College marine sciences department. The school would partially fund the effort, but private donations are needed to make up the difference. Kelly estimates the facility would cost $200,000 to build and an additional $100,000 each year for operating expenses.

Kelly has received the support of the Hill, Farrer & Burrill law firm in Los Angeles, which has promised free legal help to get necessary federal permits. Other supporters include the Orange County Sanitation Districts, the Cetacean Society of Orange County and several corporate and individual donors.

Studies conducted by Rick O’Barry, the original trainer of the 1960s dolphin TV star Flipper, and the Oceanic Research Communications Alliance in Florida have proved the feasibility of dolphin rehabilitation, Kelly said. “But those were temporary projects, and an ongoing program is needed.”

Dr. Ken Norris, who heads a dolphin project at Long Marine Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz, said the real challenge is reintroducing captive dolphins back into established social groups.

“I’m not convinced yet of this readaptation concept. But I agree that times are changing and we need to adopt a new attitude towards research animals,” Norris said.