A friendly dolphin that was known to play with humans has passed away after they were hit by a boat.
Nick, a bottlenose dolphin, loved to play with humans in Hayle Harbour, which is located in Cornwall, UK.
Sadly though, Nick was found dead.
It is believed that they passed away after being hit by a boat in Ireland.
Dan Jarvis, a member of the international marine animal rescue organization and charity British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), wants the story of Nick to act as a lesson for people.
They want the story to educate people about the important of interacting appropriately with wildlife.
Jarvis said:
Nick’s death so soon after he became prolific a few short weeks ago just goes to show that there is still a lot of work to be done in raising awareness to the public of how to act around wildlife. Although he will inevitably become just another statistic and case study, we can at least use what has happened to him right now to help get more people to understand why it is important that they listen to the continual messaging organisations like ourselves put out for following a proper code of conduct for wildlife interactions and stop this happening repeatedly, leaving us to pick up the pieces.
Nick was identified for the first time in the Isles of Scilly in June of 2020.
Between the months of April and July this year, Nick was spotted multiple times in County Cork, Waterford and Wexford in Ireland.
In August this year, Nick went back to the Isles of Scilly and made trips to Cornwall, went to the Helford Estuary, Mount’s Bay and St. Ives Bay.
Nick was also seen interacting closely with people, swimmers and boats.
He was last seen alive in Hayle Harbour on August 22, 2021.
A video of him interacting was also shared on social media.
The sad thing is that on September 12, 2021, a carcass of a bottlenose was reported to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group’s Strandings Scheme from Roaches Point in Cork Harbour.
The dolphin was later identified as Nick.
Liz Sandeman, a member of the Marine Connection’s social solitary dolphin project, released a statement about the death of Nick.
Liz said:
We urge the public to follow strict guidance when in an area that a social solitary dolphin is known to frequent. People should not attempt to interact with the marine mammal, as this causes habituation and as we have stressed repeatedly in this type of situation, causes the dolphin to lose its natural wariness around humans and boat traffic and often, as in this case, leads to its demise.
We hope this story will spread awareness about trying to stay away from dolphins and other animals in the sea.
