Ten-foot dolphin carcass found at Bandra Bandstand

A bloated carcass of a 10-foot dolphin was recovered from Bandra Bandstand on Tuesday morning.

A bloated carcass of a 10-foot dolphin was recovered from Bandra Bandstand on Tuesday morning.

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This is the eighth big mammal that has been washed ashore along the state’s coastline since March. The spate of whale and dolphin deaths has prompted the forest department to ask the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) to conduct a detailed investigation into the alarming frequency of big mammals getting beached.

The dolphin carcass was first spotted by Bandra resident, Benedict Suarez, a member of the citizen’s group Eagle Brigade at 7.30pm on Monday evening while he was patrolling the Bandstand promenade. Suarez informed local corporator Asif Zakaria, who alerted civic officials about the carcass. However, since it was already dark, civic officials decided to recover the carcass on Tuesday morning.

“The carcass was partially decomposed and bloated. There were no cuts on the carcass,” said Dilip Jadhav, junior overseer, solid waste management department, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The dolphin’s carcass was sent to the Deonar dumping ground for disposal without conducting a post-mortem.

“Whales and dolphins have a peculiar behaviour pattern, it is possible that they might be straying away from their normal navigational course and moving closer to the coast, making them susceptible to accidents with ships,” said marine biologist and chief conservator of forests (mangroves), N Vasudevan.