WASHINGTON - A dolphin has been stuck in a freshwater creek in Suffolk, Virginia for weeks, according to reports.
Bennett's Creek is not a great home for dolphins, who typically live in saltwater in the ocean. In freshwater, dolphins' skin can start to develop lesions.
That's why the team at the Virginia Aquarium told local station WAVY that they are trying to coax one dolphin out of Bennett's Creek and back home.
"Seeing if we can encourage it with noise and kayaks to swim back down. We tried that it didn’t work," said Alexander Costidis, senior scientist of the Stranding Response Program at the Virginia Aquarium, to WAVY. "The freshwater is our biggest concern. Their skin is not designed to be in fresh water and eventually, it starts to break down and let diseases start to, bacteria starts to colonize its skin."
According to Costidis, the dolphin is not trapped by something like mud or a rope.
"This dolphin probably got beat up by other dolphins, which caused it to escape into the river," Costidis said. Costidis told The Virginian-Pilot that the dolphin could also be reacting to a loud noise or a humanmade structure in the shallow water.
The Virginia Aquarium is attempting to help get the dolphin back to the ocean, but capturing the dolphin is a last resort, according to Costidis.