The news was posted on the ThaiWhales Facebook group page yesterday. (See here.)
“We thank all volunteers, Thai and foreign, who sacrificed their time and energy to came and help the ‘Binlady’ striped dolphin, but eventually this dolphin died peacefully,” said the post.
The report noted that the dolphin had died from an infection, but did not make any mention of the previous claim that the dolphin had vomited plastic (UPDATE: which has now been retracted by the person who posted the claim online along with a photo showing the white substance - see story here.)
“An autopsy revealed that the dolphin died of natural causes. There was nothing strange was found in its gastrointestinal system and its lymph nodes along its body were swollen, which show an infection. Specifically, in its lung, liver and pus was found in its intestines. Staffs have kept its parts for laboratory examination,” the post said.
At last report, a staffer at the PMBC – on condition of anonymity – told The Phuket News, “The pieces of plastic (reported) in previous news has not yet been confirmed. We need to check and confirm it in the lab first.”
That confirmation of exactly what that the pieces of white substance expelled by the dolphin were have yet to be revealed.
Meanwhile, the ThaiWhales group yesterday noted that the dolphin was very weak and needed to be held upright to prevent water from spilling into its blowhole, and drowning the mammal.
“The medical team tried to feed the (dolphin) medicine and take x-rays of its chest to find the cause. But finally it was too sick to be healed and departed peacefully on the afternoon of Wednesday (Dec 5),” the post said.