Featured Image Credit: Justin Avila via KTLA 5 News
By: Nazifa Islam
Fourth of July weekend conjures images of barbecue, cookouts, fireworks and the beach.
That’s the idea that many folks had in mind as they headed to the crowded Ventura Beach in California.
The lifeguard on duty, whose job is to look out for the safety of visitors, spotted a washed up dolphin by the shore.
A dead dolphin.
The lifeguard who spotted the dead dolphin consulted with his supervisor. His supervisor, turned to Harbor Patrol to figure out what to do from there.
The way they chose to handle the situation may come as a surprise to you. It sure did seem to come off as “disturbing” to the young children present, as well as their parents.
However, Ventura Harbor Patrol’s Harbormaster, John Higgins, said it was the best way to deal with the carcass.
California State Parks and the Harbor Patrol decided to use a pickup truck to tow (yes, tow) the animal instead of loading it into the truck’s bed.
Basically this dolphin got dragged by a rope from the back of a truck.
People questioned why the dolphin wasn’t placed into the truck and removed more inconspicuously.
Officials said that by towing the animal, instead of placing it in the bed of the truck, means the vehicle would not need to be decontaminated and could remain in service for medical, emergency and law enforcement calls.
The other option, they said, would have been to leave the dolphin in place over the weekend and possibly longer. And leaving the dolphin means that the decomposing animal would become a public nuisance and a health hazard.
The federal agency National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is responsible for dead marine life, but NOAA defers this responsibility to local agencies.
This means it’s up to local agencies to remove expired marine life, with their limited resources. And sometimes, there is even nobody to call to come and remove the dolphins or other marine animals.
“The Harbor Patrol does not have tractors, so a boat or truck was the only option for transporting the carcass,” Higgins told a KTLA 5 News reporter.
If the dolphin was towed out to sea by boat, it would likely have again washed up on shore.
This poor dolphin.
Read more from our source here.