FUNGIE, THE RENOWNED Dingle dolphin is reportedly recovering from a bad gash to his back.
The dolphin, which has been a major tourist attraction in the Kerry town since first appearing in the local waters in 1983, was noticed to have a ‘deep gash’ on the right hand side of his back by local boatmen yesterday.
The source of the injury is unknown, although possible causes could be a boat-propeller, a rock, or even another dolphin.
Fungie has been known to recover from such injuries in the past.
“I just noticed yesterday on one of the tours that he had a gash on his back,” Jimmy Flannery Junior, chairman of the Dingle Boatmen’s Association, earlier told Newstalk.
It’s not unusual though. It happens every now and again. It does appear to be healing very quickly though.
Flannery suggested that the injury may have come from the amount of activity in the Dingle Bay area due to the fine weather.
Bottlenosed dolphins of Fungie’s ilk are generally expected to live for between forty and fifty years.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say