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CNN WORLD REPORT

Marine Biologists Befriend a Lonely Dolphin

Aired August 19, 2001 - 14:38 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: Solitary dolphins are rare to encounter in nature. They are usually found only in large gatherings called pods.

SHIBAH RATTANSI, CNN ANCHOR: These lone mammals, sometimes referred to as rogue dolphins, have been thrown out of their families for their unusual behavior. In our continuing look at the life of a special solitary dolphin that changed the lives of his researchers, here is Melody Horrill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELODY HORRILL, NETWORK TEN (on camera): Three weeks ago, we brought you the first part of Jacques (ph)'s incredible story, the sad tale of a wild and lonely dolphin who befriended myself and a small group of people from Adelaide, South Australia. We examined the perils of this unusual dolphin's existence, how Jacques (ph) became entangled in fishing line, and how he battled to survive in the highly polluted river that was his home.

Independent research found that this river was filled with highly toxic chemicals that can be especially fatal in baby dolphins. Mothers ingest the poisons and pass them on through their milk to their babies. This week's episode will explore how those poisons tragically infected our friend Jacques (ph).

(voice-over): Throughout history, humans have held a fascination for dolphins. And they, too, are intrigued by us. Dolphins have been credited with saving the lives of people stricken at sea. Ancient Greeks considered them divine, and people who killed them were executed. But mutual respect isn't always enough.

This male bottle nose, believed to be only three months old, was brutally stabbed over the weekend. He probably belonged to the Port River pod, which holds a special place in the affections of many South Australians. Stabbings and shootings or Port River dolphins have become depressingly frequent.

DR. BOSLEY, DOLPHIN RESEARCHER: One of the dolphins that got shot, that we called Hilo (ph), when she died, she a dependent calf or semidependent calf, and I've actually named the calf Nicky (ph), after my own daughter. And so, in a week or two after Hilo (ph) died, and we were seeing this young dolphin swimming around by itself, wondering whether it would survive or not. HORRILL: She didn't, like most of the babies orphaned by human attacks. But the biggest tragedy of all was Jacques' (ph) as fate. In August, 1993, Dr. Bosley hadn't seen him for weeks. He felt something was terribly wrong and he began searching.

DR. BOSLEY: We just couldn't find him. And then I had call from the museum saying that they had collected a dolphin's body who -- and the dolphin had a strange-looking fin, which immediately made me think it was probably him.

I guess I'm the kind of person that doesn't burst into tears easily. And I don't tend to show my emotions that much. I can remember the people at the museum looking at me a little strangely when I probably made some kind of outburst about that was my friend dying, because they had known me up until then, I think, as straight scientist and probably thought it was a little strange that I was so emotionally involved with a dolphin.

HORRILL: The shock and emotion all at once as overwhelming. I didn't know what I to do. It was like I had lost my right hand, that I had lost a friend that I was never going to replace. The upsurge of emotion was almost too much. It was such a loss.

ANNIE BUCHECKER, DOLPHIN RESEARCHER: I was actually surprised by my reaction. I felt like I had lost a very close friend. I had. It just wasn't a human friend.

HORRILL: I remember walking into your lounge room when you had that glass of scotch. And you looked at me and I looked at you and there were no words that we could say to each other. And I just gave you a hug.

And we would like to think that the Port River dolphins were grieving too. Only weeks, before Jacques (ph) had begun to reach out to his peers for the first time. And like a teenager embarrassed by his parents in front of friends, he pretend not to know us.

HORRILL: The tears in our eyes and this dolphin swimming away from us, not really wanting anything to do with us for the first time ever and how that felt. That felt -- it felt wonderful in some respects, because he no longer needed us. But it terrible in another respect, because it was almost a feeling of loss, like what are we going to do without him?

BOSWELL: If you had take a photo of us at that moment, no one would ever have doubted what these people were feeling. They felt a deep unity, there was loss but there was happiness, there was extraordinary joy.

HORRILL: He was actually starting to really enjoy his life. He was starting to interact with other dolphins, he was starting to enjoy -- enjoy being. In dolphin terms, Jacques (ph) was an adolescent. An autopsy found he had ingested large amounts of manmade toxins called PCBs. Until being banned in the early '90s, they were used in paint products and coolants. PCBs can remain toxic for decades. BOSWELL: He had had levels of PCBs in his system which were elevated at the time. Anyway, they were something like six times higher than any other dolphin that had been tested in Australia.

HORRILL: The finding is particularly worrying because the Port River is Adelaide's most important fish breeding ground. And with so many popular fishing spots along the river, it's not hard to see how PCBs and other organic chemicals can enter the food chain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More research needs to be undertaken by the South Australian government to identify what the levels are in edible fish, because it potentially could be a problem for people that eat a lot of fish from the river.

HORRILL: A problem that might yet force people to act to save this paradox of nature.

Next week we'll bring you the final episode of "A Dance with a Dolphin." A shocking look at the devastating affects man has had on Jacques (ph) and the other Port River dolphins. Now it's back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RATTANSI: Thank you very much.

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