Dolphin dies on Lucy Vincent

0
A dolphin was found in distress and died after washing up on Lucy Vincent Beach. -Courtesy Town of Chilmark

A dolphin washed up on Lucy Vincent Beach Friday morning, and apparently spent its last moments there. Lauren Gray, a supervisor at the beach, said a beach patron told her they witnessed the marine mammal’s last breaths. Gray said the dolphin was discovered at about 9:30 Friday morning. 

“It looked like it had just died,” Gray said.

Gray said there were no visible signs of injury to the dolphin. The dolphin was reported to NOAA, and several photographs were sent to NOAA as well, she said. 

Gray said she’d worked at the beach a long time, and struggled to recall a similar event. She thought it might have happened 15 years ago. Gray said beach staff hoped the tide would take the dolphin back out to sea, but that wasn’t the case. “It washed it up further,” she said.

On advice from NOAA, Gray said, beach staff, joined by members of the Chilmark Fire Department, put the dolphin on a tarp, dug a hole, and buried it.