[Sad Update Below] A dolphin washed ashore in Queens during this morning's storm. The animal was spotted by 24-year-old Franly Estrella, a porter at a nearby building, around 9:30 a.m. on Beach 19th St. in Far Rockaway. "I thought it was a shark. I was surprised it was a dolphin," he told the News. Even sadder: Estrella pushed the dolphin back in the water, but he just washed ashore again. "I guess it was exhausted or injured," he said.
Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Services unit, the harbor patrol, and members of the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation all responded to help the dolphin. We've contacted Riverhead to get more information about the current state of the dolphin. There have been several dolphins spotted around the city this summer—a pod of them were photographed on June 12th, and before that, a lone dolphin was spotted swimming near Chelsea Piers in lower Manhattan; that dolphin sadly later turned up dead from having starved to death.
Initial reports erroneously stated this dolphin washed up in Brooklyn, which was later corrected. Some people weren't so impressed with all the dolphin tweeting: "Lmaaaooo Queens hype about a Dolphin....meanwhile Brooklyn got a basketball team lmaooo have fun with your Dolphin."
Update: According to Robert A. DiGiovanni Jr., Executive Director at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, the dolphin has died: "The dolphin was a female common dolphin which passed shortly after arrival at our facility. She was being transferred to our hospital tank when she passed...She was just under 6’ and approximately 140lbs."
Robert A. DiGiovanni Jr.
