A dolphin has washed up on a beach after being attacked by a shark in Galveston Texas, and was reported to be in a critical condition on Monday.

Shark Attack

The endangered juvenile bottle-nosed dolphin was noticed by passers-by last Sunday stranded on the beach showing evidence of a shark attack. Wounds included a 5-inch gash in front of the dorsal fin and a number of bites and rake marks. It is unclear as to whether the dolphin was weakened by the attack and pushed onto shore or whether it was already weak and so vulnerable to shark attacks.

Helping?

Beach-goers attempted to push the animal back into the sea unknowingly putting the dolphin in greater danger. Pushing a stranded dolphin puts pressure on its lungs and puts it at risk of breaks to bones in the pectoral fin.

Rehab

“That exhausts the animal every time they do it” said Heidi Whitehead, operations coordinator for the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding network. Stranding network volunteers arrived at the scene and loaded the animal onto a specially designed vehicle before being transported to a rehabilitation centre.

This is the second live marine mammal that has washed up on a Texas beach this year, the first was also a bottlenose dolphin that had to be euthanized. Seventy-five other dolphins and one fin whale have been found on beaches in Texas this year.

If the dolphin survives Stranded Network volunteers are considering naming it Sargent after the town close to where it was found.