Photo: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
YARMOUTH PORT, Mass. (WBZNewsRadio) - Cape Cod sees more dolphin-strandings than anywhere else in the world, and soon the marine mammals will have a brand new hospital in Orleans.
“With the new facility, we aim to improve the survivability of stranded dolphins and porpoises,” said Brian Sharp, Director of IFAW’s Marine Mammal Rescue & Research team. “Cape Cod sees more instances of live mass strandings of dolphins than anywhere else in the world. Currently there are no such facilities for dolphins north of Florida, leaving IFAW staff to treat stranded animals solely in the field.”
The new hospital opens this month and will be run by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), who've been rescuing and rehabilitating dolphins on the Cape for the last 25 years. Staffed 24 hours a day, the facility will give the dolphins a place for additional diagnostics, treatments and recovery. Within the facility, there will be two, 15-foot diameter treatment pools, a lab, and an education and outreach center located in the entrance of the building.
IFAW said they plan to treat one patient at a time, with plans to expand. They're expecting about a dozen patients a year.