Sick dolphin stranded himself ashore

An ill dolphin stranded itself at Agawam Beach last week and was euthanized amid a recent rash of wayward dolphins in the Northeast. A dolphin was first spotted swimming off Onset Beach Thursday, local officials said.

Two other dolphins were reported, and their whereabouts are unknown. Wareham police and Onset Fire Department received calls regarding the dolphin around noontime, Assistant Harbormaster Garry Buckminster said.

At the time, he said, he was on a boat with a state biologist conducting water sampling in the area, and he could see the dolphin. The dolphin at that time was still in relatively deep water. A dolphin was later found in 6 inches of water in the Agawam Beach area — Mr. Buckminster believes it was the same one spotted off Onset Beach. "It had pushed itself up to basically inches of water in one of the inlets of the marsh," he said.

The Cape Cod Stranding Network responded to the scene. The organization provides rapid response, evaluation and humane care for stranded marine mammals, according to its Web site. The town's animal control officer, Carlston Wood, and the Wareham Fire Department also responded to the scene. The dolphin had sores and was clearly sick. The stranding network personnel euthanized it by injection at the scene, Mr. Buckminster said. "It was by far the most humane way to take care of the situation," he said.

"The dolphin was beyond ill." Dolphins have become stranded elsewhere in the state and the region. Rescuers reported some success yesterday in their attempts to lure a dozen or more wayward dolphins out of a shallow cove between the twin forks of eastern Long Island, nearly a week after the spunky mammals were first seen frolicking in the waters north of East Hampton. The common dolphins — no one is sure exactly how many are out there — became stranded last week in the Northwest Harbor cove, attracting spectators and marine biologists who feared for their safety.

Six have already died. As many as nine dolphins were chased through the narrow inlet and headed for safer waters yesterday, and the effort to rescue about three remaining animals was expected to resume today, said Charles Bowman, president of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation. Although a rare occurrence on Long Island, dolphin strandings are an annual event in places further north, including Cape Cod, said Tony LaCasse, a spokesman for the New England Aquarium.

"Since late December, there has been a series of strandings on Cape Cod," Mr. LaCasse said. "We have a mass stranding or two every winter; last year there were over eight."