Malaysia: Injured dolphin rescued in Sepanggar Bay

The Star 16 Feb 13;

KOTA KINABALU: The Wildlife Department and Universiti Malaysia Sabah have teamed up to save an injured dolphin at Sepanggar Bay.

They rescued the dolphin after it was spotted to be in distress about 100m from the shore at about 1pm yesterday. It is belived the injuries were caused by fishing nets.

The university's director of the Borneo Marine Research Institute, Prof Dr Saleem Mustafa, said the dolphin was weak from its injuries and would be placed in the institute's hatchery while its wounds were tended to.

This was the second dolphin spotted in two days.

The first was seen near the Sutera Harbour Resort near here on Thursday.

Prof Saleem said dolphin sightings in Sabah had increased over the years, and this proved the success of marine conservation efforts.

A pod of dolphins was spotted on Jan 6 and Jan 8 near Gaya Island, he said.

Rescued Sepanggar Bay dolphin dies
The Star 28 Feb 13;

KOTA KINABALU: An injured female dolphin found in Sepanggar Bay here two weeks ago has died.

The dolphin died on Feb 25 while at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah Borneo Marine Institute hatchery, which was treating it.

Institute Director Prof Dr Saleem Mustafa said the 3m-long mammal, a Delphinidae dolphin, died due to its injuries.

“The dolphin arrived with infected wounds and despite the best effort of staffers and students and the Wildlife Department, it could not be saved,” he said, adding that it was sad to see another mammal die on Malaysian shores.