I wouldn't have been able to get the image out of my mind for a long time.
Odds were against the dolphin from the beginning, and predictably, it was just announced that it has died.
Even if it had made its way out of the Gowanus, it certainly had spent too much time in the toxic sludge to survive.
How very, very sad.
Thanks to Rick for sending me the photo above.
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7 comments:
I look forward to the time that these wonderful creatures can visit us and survive. Let's make sure that NYC cooperates with the EPA cleanup so that the canal is no longer a "dead" end.
The canal, while disgusting, is still full of viable life. There is nothing to indicate that the canal's pollution had any affect on the dolphin's health. Further, this animal was most likely sick/old and ready to die. Dolphins are quite social and live in pods that number from a handful to 1000's of members. It would be extremely odd that a healthy individual, with the extreme intelligence that dolphins possess, would migrate from their pod, and then get lost or confused in a short canal like the Gowanus.
And the cold and the disorientation were contributions to the animal's demise. I was destroyed when I learned of this story. Thankfully, in some small media way, the local news crew's coverage and interviews of locals like Linda of FROG brought some attention to the filth that lurks nearby and the foolishness of the men attempting to build there.
Why are dolphins up here in our cold waters anyway? Is this a global warming phenomenon?
http://gothamist.com/2013/01/28/gowanus_dolphin_wasnt_killed_by_can.php
almost all sea mamanals live a very social fife.. living in large groups called pods.. Dolphins in particulaer are highly intelligent and have amazing sonar like senses..this poor animal must have been very sick, old or injured to have wondered off course several hundreds of miles from his "family". It is unfortunate that it ended up in a place that is one of the many NYC cesspools to die.. but I doubt the canla had much to do with that.. In the end we all must go there.....
Dolphins are native to NY Harbor. Here's a good book to read:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23258
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