Body of dolphin washed ashore on Baltic Sea coast

The Baltic States
CITY PAPER

August 1998

The body of a dolphin that apparently lost its way from the Atlantic Ocean has washed ashore onto the coast of the Baltic Sea.

The dolphin was found this week on a beach in nearby Latvia, but was taken to a leading maritime museum in the Lithuanian seaport of Klaipeda, 350 kilometres west of the capital Vilnius, for further examinations.

Museum biologists said the dolphin probably swam into the Baltic Sea in pursuit of a school of salmon or herring.

The museum denied rumours that the dolphin could have been one of five U.S. military dolphins that were recently taking part in mine sweeping exercises off the Baltic coast.

All five dolphins were accounted for and had since left the region, the museum said.
The dolphins had been flown in from San Diego, California, along with seven tons of frozen fish and some 25 handlers to help look for World War II-era mines still in the Baltic Sea.

The military dolphins performed badly, however, and found no mines. Some blamed their poor performance on the uncomfortably cold Baltic waters.

One of the dolphins also disappeared for several hours, apparently on a search for a mate. At the time, U.S. officials feared a diplomatic incident had the U.S. military dolphin strayed into nearby Russian waters.

The only previous record of a dolphin washing ashore in the Baltics was in 1909.

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