The body of Environmental Agents of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura has proceeded to remove the corpses of two other cetaceans that have appeared dead on the coast of Majorera. A spotted dolphin body appeared in Punta de Jandía (Pájara) and another bottlenose dolphin in Puerto del Rosario. In both cases, "the corpses were fresh and showed no signs that could venture the cause of death", said the Cabildo of Majorera. With these two new findings, there are 6 cetacean corpses that have appeared on the coasts of Majorera in the last 2 months.
This Tuesday morning, a neighbor gave the notice to 112 after spotting the body of a dolphin at the exit of the capital district of El Charco, in the direction of Puerto Lajas. The Ministry of Environment of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura has confirmed later that it was a bottlenose dolphin of 1.27 meters long and about 30 kilograms of weight.
The second cetacean stranded this week on the island was removed this Monday in Caleta del Tigre, very close to the population center of Puertito de Jandía (Pájara), in the southern end of the island. The notice was given the previous afternoon by a neighbor of the population. The species of the animal corresponds to an Atlantic spotted dolphin, 1.80 meters long and between 80 and 100 kilograms of weight.
Waiting for the necropsy
A scientific team from the Cetacean Research Group of the University Institute of Animal Health, taking advantage of their stay on the island, proceeded to transfer the bottlenose dolphin that appeared in Jandía to Gran Canaria. The transfer was made on Monday by boat and in a refrigerated vehicle, "in order to ensure the preservation of the corpse", explains the Cabildo of Majorera.
As for the bottlenose dolphin located this Tuesday in Puerto del Rosario, it has been deposited in the cold storage of La Estación Biológica de La Oliva, facilities enabled by the Cabildo for these cases. It will remain there until the Cetacean Research Group, led by the professor of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the ULPGC, Antonio Fernández, has availability to remove it or travel to the island to perform the necropsy in situ.
Six corpses in two months
The Minister of Environment of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, Natalia Évora, has recalled that counting these two dolphins, "the number of cetaceans that have appeared dead on the coasts of Fuerteventura is six in just two months." "A period that coincides with the oil surveys that have been developed off our coasts," said Évora.
"Once again, we cannot safely establish a relationship between the surveys and the strandings, because it is the scientists who will have to determine it, but the reality is that we cannot rule out that these two facts are related," said the Minister.
"Of course," he said, "it is really worrying the concentration of dead cetaceans that we are registering in a very short time and, in addition, in all cases on the coast of Sotavento, that is, in the coastal strip oriented towards where the oil surveys are carried out."
The previous cases of strandings took place in different points of the island. On January 15, in the Barranco de Los Canarios (Pájara), a baby tropical pilot whale was found dead. The previous weekend, on Sunday, January 11, a baby dolphin also appeared dead on the coast of La Oliva. The first two cases of the indicated period correspond to two pygmy sperm whales, a very rare species. On December 9, 2014, a dead specimen appeared in the Barranco de La Torre (Antigua), while on November 20, 2014, "coinciding with the beginning of the soundings," says the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, another corpse of this species was located in Costa Calma.
