Fl. Volunteers work to free dolphins, used feeding tubes to hydrate the most vulnerable

Dozens of volunteers toiled through a chilly night Thursday to tend to the 60 dolphins remaining from a group that stranded off the Middle Keys, using small boats to ferry some to a makeshift pen that has become the marine mammal equivalent of a triage ward.

By afternoon, six dolphins had died and 14 were still in painstaking transit, as U.S. Coast Guard personnel, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers and others helped move the listless animals one by one from offshore flats to safety.

Volunteers in wet suits used feeding tubes to hydrate the most vulnerable and fed fish to those able to swim, their dorsal fins affixed with red tags and numbers.

Ron Whitson on Thursday supports one of more than 60 rough-toothed dolphins that stranded off Marathon on Wednesday. Six dolphins had died by Thursday afternoon.

About 20 other dolphins that stranded late Wednesday managed to swim to sea.

The sound of those in struggle was that of tiny squeaks and labored breathing.

BLOOD SAMPLES
Biologists extracted blood samples and examined the animals to try to determine what caused the rough-toothed dolphins to beach en masse about 52 miles northeast of Key West.

The rough-toothed dolphin, which is typically found in warm waters, has a distinctive narrow dorsal cape and cone-shaped head.

Scientists hope necropsies on those that died will decipher what compelled the normally deep-water mammals to approach land.

Blair Mase, Southeast Regional Stranding Network coordinator for NOAA Fisheries, which manages responses to strandings, said researchers were not ruling out other potential causes, such as a virus.

At least five calves were among the stranded, whose plight spawned an outpouring of local assistance Thursday. Businesses donated everything from towels to flashlights to food and trucks, while a crush of volunteers prompted coordinators to set up a separate registration post a few miles away.

A range of helpers, from retirees to local service workers, gently held blowholes above water and kept dolphin heads moist.

''I was holding a baby earlier and it shivered and threw up and then it died,'' said Ron Whitson, a Marathon retiree. ``I felt really bad.''

''People came down because they care,'' said Steve Gainen, a dolphin trainer who ventured south from Florida City. ``These creatures are in trouble.''

The Coast Guard also established a ''security zone'' around two areas where the dolphins were located Thursday, to discourage gawking and give volunteers a wide berth.

CHECKING VOLUNTEERS
Officials were also closely monitoring volunteers' safety.

''We had about eight people that had early signs of hypothermia last night,'' said Josh Harrington, a Coast Guard spokesman.

Officials said they were hoping to bring in cranes Friday to help move some or all of the animals to rehabilitation facilities in the Keys and Miami.

''This is not an ideal situation,'' Mase said, referring to the chalky lagoon where the animals are being held.