Injured Dolphin- Brisy River

[marty+jojo]

Went down the river to try to get a nice snapper like Foggy got the other day;)
Unfortunately i only got about 6 undersize squire and a 41cm cod:'( Lucky i dropped 4 pots on my way to the mouth and was rewarded with 5 sandies to take home:).
Anyway while i was pulling my pots i was joined by an old beaten up looking dolphin and it's baby. It is the same one i have read about on ausfish( half it's dorsal fin missing) They swam right beside my boat for about 10 mins. I think they were looking for a free feed, but i only use smelly stuff (bait) to catch crabs, so i could not help them. The mother had several marks on it's back from a propeller and a big gash about 20cm long 5cm deep and 5cm wide:(

[Dirtysanchez]

Maybe call seaworld ? they have some specialist vets who could help her ?
Poor old girl, thats not good.. Plus the river isn't the cleanest, so it might become infected

[Poodroo]

I agree with Dirtysanchez. Ring Seaworld and they will get right on it. If the mother dies from her injuries then her baby is in severe danger.

Poodroo

[snapperbasher]

hey,
I saw that dolphin yesterday @ fishermans island boat ramp she came over as we were putting the boat on the trailer I had some yakkas still in the livie tank so her and her baby got a good feed those cuts in her back did not look to good.

[Poodroo]

Okay help is on its way. I contacted Seaworld and have given as much info about where the dolphin has been hanging out. They are sending a team out to search for her. By the sounds of it she should not be too hard to locate.

Poodroo

[Kleyny]

poodroo
did they say what can be done for her?
and if they removed her i'm guessing they would take the baby with them.

neil

[Poodroo]

HONKY DORY they said that they will first of all try to find her. Once found they will have to assess and observe and if need be they will capture both.

Poodroo

[Marlin_Mike]

poodroo, did you give them the link to this thread, if they saw the pics below might help them identify them

Mike

[chief]

hey guys i've been feeding lilly as we call her because she is blind in her right eye and has trouble catching her own fish .Her young one is quite ok and can deffinantly look after himself. he hammers the bait fish and hunts and seems to be growing extremely well. I've never seen him take dead bait. Actually he picks up the pillies and carries them to his mother and gives them to her. Her friendly nature has been because of her nescessity for food. She seems to be a outcast from other dolphin pods probably for this reason. every time i;ve fished lately the wife has reminded me to pick up some fresh fish for lilly and she always seems to find you for a feed . Bad news to see her hurt

[Poodroo]

Yes Mike I gave them the link to this thread. I also gave them my email address in case they want to keep me updated or if they can't find the thread for some reason.

Poodroo

[craigie]

I too spotted "Lilly" on the weekend, she was in the shallows across from the water Police near Fisherman's Island.
Poor buggar, does not look real flash.

[Marlin_Mike]

I have also fed them in the past. The young one often puts on quite a show of jumping etc, almost like hes paying for the feed :)

[marty+jojo]

I saw her straight opposite the boat passage near the sunken wall. About an hour later i saw a boat with two old guys feeding the pair at Clara's rocks (red marker next to tug boats) about 8.30am roughly, the tide was still running out almost low tide. I hope this helps.
Marty

[marty+jojo]

Poodroo... Can you give me the number you contacted them on, i am going down there again in the morning. If i see her again i can call them.
Marty

[Poodroo]

Have spoken to Seaworld a second time. All the info I gave was passed onto one of the Seaworld scientists and they are checking the forum as we speak. Hopefully they can do their best to help "Lilly"

Cheers,

Poodroo

[DaMaGe]

All the best for Lilly. I am actually touched by this thread and the Dolphin, "Lilly" At Christmas time I introduced my 3 yr old daughter to the Dolphins at Tin Can Bay, I too had my own special moment with the Dolphins up there and feel they are amazing animals...

[Paddyinoz2006]

keep us posted on lilly. hope she gets better soon.

[BAR UP]

Saw Lilly & Baby Lilly 3 weeks ago at Fisherman Island boat ramp. She ate about 3 kg of pillys & took some from my fingers. She was not injured at that time other than Dorsil finn.8-)

[chief]

recently she s found me any where in the river up to the royal brissie golf club, behind the pipeline in the sheltered section of boggy creek and also twice in the last three weeks she has been up aquarium passage up past the lytton rd bridge, working their way along the outgoing tide , hope that may help

[PinHead]

Personally..I am very anti feeding of any wildlife..it does put both the animal and humans in possibility of danger to either one or the other..eg dingoes on fraser.
Nature has ways of either letting the animal die due to injury or help it survive...I won't intefere but to each his own.

[davo]

I saw them right up the top of Tinny creek. They were very friendly

[Poodroo]

Personally..I am very anti feeding of any wildlife..it does put both the animal and humans in possibility of danger to either one or the other..eg dingoes on fraser.
Nature has ways of either letting the animal die due to injury or help it survive...I won't intefere but to each his own.

The biggest danger to any animal is humans. Whilst there are a lot of us who love wildlife and would never harm them there are still many out there who would. The reason I am against feeding dolphins or anything for that matter is that they gain trust in humans and then while they are trusting us some moron with a speargun or some other harmful weapon takes advantage of being able to get close to the animal and kills it. This has happened all too many times in the past. I remember when I was a kid it hit the news that some sicko with a gun went and shot all the tame kangaroos at Loan Pine Sanctuary. Also some years ago there was a pod of trusting dolphins that used to come in shallow and let people feed and pat them that also got killed and harmed. So I agree with Pinhead in that we should admire from afar and never intervene for their own safety from depraved people. If any intervention is to take place when an animal is injured then leave it to the professionals who know how to treat and help them.

Poodroo

[Benno75]

I've also met Lilly a couple of times. Poor old girl - I don't think she does much for your fishing prospects when she turns up, but its still always nice to see her when she bothers to say G'day.

It would be great if Seaworld could put up a post here and give us a progress report after they've checked her out.

[chief]

I agree with you guys about not feeding dolphins and have made it a rule not to feed the young one and develope bad habits. We've been watching lilly and young one for nearly a year . She has been a real battler. We noticed her lack of sight and that her right eye had discoloured slighty white. I feel the extra time she has had has enabled her to give that young one a good start in life. recently i've seen her at my boat and he's been 1 1/2 klms away chasing fish. I've never seen him show any interest in dead fish, in fact it blew me away that mum couldn't see a fish that was on her blind side just slowly sinking and the young one picked it up and put it on her good side so she could and of course she gulped it down. If worst comes to worst i hope he has had enough to time to have the skills to look after himself, I think he has. She has always reminded me of someone who has just had a dam rough trot in life but she's battled on . Fingers crossed she's around for a lot longer

[fisher28]

hi guys,great to see the support for this dolphin,ive noticed these 2 lately but it wasnt until the other morning,maybe wednesday,that i saw all the prop marks on her back and fin.when im pulling my net on they come up to me and i throw them some herring,some are dead and the old girl doesnt say no to them,good work on reporting them to seaworld and a progress report would be great!

[searchinthebay]

I have also seen Lilly at the mouth actually you could say she saw us. She found us and we moved about 1 klm away and she found us again. i posted a report on the fishing there a couple of weeks ago and she didn't have any injuries then except for the half a fin so it has only happened recently

[Dirtysanchez]

I am really pleased to see so much care about this poor creature, good on you fellows for your hard work.. I wish I had less work at the moment & I'd be pumping the phones etc..

Pinhead raises a solid point, not so much about natures course, but certainly feeding these creatures. You see she and her baby have developed a certain level of trust now for humans and boats.. So much so her instincts didn't kick in and unfortunately she has been hit by a prop, which is sad, and proabably disasterous for the baby dolphin

I sure hope Seaworld do something about it.. Take care on the river guys, look out for the old girl

[White_Steenbras]

Yup I've seen the same dolphin heaps of times around the Captain Bishop Bridge, always swimming with its baby chasing mullet in the shallows, I hope it gets better.

[mickstar001]

I fed them about 6 weeks ago across from the water police at whyte island and they seemed healthy and fine, this must have been quite recently she was hurt hey!

Mickstar

[Poodroo]

Believe it or not I am still trying to get an answer from Seaworld with regards to what was done for poor Lilly. I just sent them another email so hopefully they will get back to me soon regarding what they did. Hopefully Lilly and her baby are in good hands.

Regards,

Poodroo

[Kleyny]

seems funny how they said they would look into it asap. then not get back to the person who reported the injured animal. even after several attemps by the person to find out what is going on.

poodroo keep trying they will get sick you sooner or later and get back to you.;D ;D

neil

[lumox]

my families fingers are crossed for lilly and her baby. has anyone seen them lately? should pass on this info to brisi extra or somthing similar im sure they could get a response from seaworld.

[Poodroo]

Just thought I would let everyone know that Lilly is being closely monitored. Appears she is in no danger. Here is the following email sent to me by Seaworld.

Regards,

Poodroo

Dear Andrew

It had been reported to us by another person as well and we had passed
the information to Queensland Parks & Wildlife.
The animal has been seen several times since and is moving around from
area to area, spending quite some time at Manly Harbour. It is being
fed by many people and has been spending a few days each week in Manly
Harbour for several months. The injuries appear to be about a week old,
but also appear to be healing. Its behaviour prior to the injuries and
after has not changed. It appears to have found itself a good food
source (people) but is still catching fish itself. The calf is with its
mother and at times another adult joins them.
It will continue to be monitored and should the situation change we are
on hand. As it is eating well and travelling quite long distances from
day to day, it is best left alone.
Thank you for contacting us. The animal has created quite a bit of
interest from locals in the different areas it frequents.
Sincerely
Aileen Forrester
PA to the Director of Marine Sciences

[marty+jojo]

good to hear she is still battling along
Marty.

[lumox]

great to hear hope she continues to heal and is around for a long time alot of people would miss her.

[Kleyny]

thats good to hear that there is no foreseen danger for Lilly or Lilly Jnr

neil

[dogsbody]

Go you good thing!

Dave.

[marty+jojo]

I am now back at work:'( after 3 weeks holidays, well this morning on my way to work i saw a boat throwing the cast net in boggy creek so i pull up to see if old mate was getting any prawns.....he was getting 1 or 2 a cast. they were not alone, i was happy to see "Lilly" and her baby with them. Lilly was getting a good feed of small fish, and from what i could see it looked like the gash on her back was healing nicely:D .
Marty.

[toolman2810]

Went out one night after work about midnight 6 weeks ago , on one of those fantastic milk pond nights. Saw Lily the dolphin & her well grown baby directly underneath the Gateway Bridge. 100m away from the Gateway you can hear all the traffic, directly underneath the Gateway you can't here the traffic overhead it is completely silent. It was really beautiful, gave them a little feed & they were so friendly. Lily came right up to the boat & nibbled on my colleages fingers. Which is a standard joke around work, how often do you go fishing & get bitten by a dolphin. They circled around for a few minutes & he patted Lilly a couple of times. Though the half grown baby kept its distance. The consensus around work were they were from Tangalooma and must of followed the ferry back to Brisbane. Its not that uncommon to see wild dolphins, but it is uncommon for them to come close enough for a pat. The point to the story is six weeks ago Lilly wasn't injured. We saw her two weeks ago up Bulimba creek with all the scars over her though her off spring seemed healthy. Thought it was really sad that she had been injured. We fed her some fish, which may or may not be a mistake & called sea world. I don't want sea world to catch her. I would just like some vet to feed her some fish with antibiotics.

[Poodroo]

Went out one night after work about midnight 6 weeks ago , on one of those fantastic milk pond nights. Saw Lily the dolphin & her well grown baby directly underneath the Gateway Bridge. 100m away from the Gateway you can hear all the traffic, directly underneath the Gateway you can't here the traffic overhead it is completely silent. It was really beautiful, gave them a little feed & they were so friendly. Lily came right up to the boat & nibbled on my colleages fingers. Which is a standard joke around work, how often do you go fishing & get bitten by a dolphin. They circled around for a few minutes & he patted Lilly a couple of times. Though the half grown baby kept its distance. The consensus around work were they were from Tangalooma and must of followed the ferry back to Brisbane. Its not that uncommon to see wild dolphins, but it is uncommon for them to come close enough for a pat. The point to the story is six weeks ago Lilly wasn't injured. We saw her two weeks ago up Bulimba creek with all the scars over her though her off spring seemed healthy. Thought it was really sad that she had been injured. We fed her some fish, which may or may not be a mistake & called sea world. I don't want sea world to catch her. I would just like some vet to feed her some fish with antibiotics.

Well for a little while I was in close contact with Seaworld and catching Lilly and the calf were last resorts. They have been sending specialist scientists out to monitor her progress closely and as per the email which I cut and pasted in here they will only intervene if they feel it is warranted.

Poodroo