Hundreds Of Dolphins Could Be Dying From

Hundreds Of Dolphins Could Be Dying From Measles

(CBS DC/AP) Once upon a time, he was known as Capt. Bob, the man Richard Rodgers Jersey who trained the dolphins and seals to perform for crowds in Atlantic City.

But as he got to know the dolphins, Bob Schoelkopf renounced keeping them in captivity and devoted the rest of his life to rescuing stranded marine mammals. That clears the way for an intensive scientific inquiry into what is causing the deaths.

No definitive conclusions have been reached, but many suspect the morbilli virus. The naturally occurring virus was ultimately blamed for the last major dolphin die off, in 1987, when 740 dolphins died.

Marine biologist Kim Durham told CBS News that this type of virus resembles measles.

we were doing examinations, we would find they were very skinny animals, Durham said. were http://www.packersnflofficial.com/Nike-Ha-Ha-Clintondix-Jersey.html compromised animals. Corey Linsley Jersey Some of them had skin lesions they were just very sick individuals. added that the dolphins could be Richard Rodgers Kids Jersey spreading the virus among themselves because of skin contact.

This year, several of the dolphins that washed ashore in New Jersey have tested positive for the virus.

The waves of dead dolphins started appearing in New Jersey in early July, and it hasn let up. Wednesday morning, the stranding center got a call about a dead dolphin that washed ashore in Sea Bright, the 62nd in New Jersey this year. But it was too badly decomposed and chewed up by sharks to warrant taking it for a necropsy at a veterinary center near Kennett Square, Pa., a four hour round trip that exhausting volunteers.

Two hours later, another dead dolphin, packersnflofficial.com/Nike-Davante-Adams-Jersey.html No. 63, washed up in Spring Lake.

Schoelkopf has been doing this for decades. A Vietnam veteran whose duty included underwater operations, he was injured during the war and sent to Philadelphia Naval Hospital. His diving experience allowed him to get a job at an aquarium, where he cleaned the underwater glass of the dolphin tanks.

One night, he was scrubbing away when he felt something nudge him from behind. It was a dolphin that had gotten out of its holding tank, one of several that had learned how to open the gate, swim out and then return after a while and snap the latch closed again.

one had any idea they were swimming out and playing around each night, he said.

didn want to work with captive dolphins anymore, he said. wasn right for them to do 13 shows a Corey Linsley Kids Jersey day and never see sunlight. founded the stranding center and has earned a national reputation for rescuing beached or distressed sea creatures.

die all the time at sea, but people don see it, he said. get upset when they do see it. They looking at Flipper.