The 'Cathal Pendred saves a dolphin' story did not have a happy ending
Yesterday we brought you the unusual story for Dublin-based MMA star Cathal Pendred's efforts to save a dolphin found washed up on the beach at Doonbeg, Co Clare.
The fighter posted a series of pictures to Twitter depecting his battle to refloat the injured cetacean - described at the time as a 'baby' but subsequently identified as an adult male striped dolphin, a species more usually found in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
In the pics, Pendred was seen carrying the dolphin through the waves to deeper water.
A second shot showed the animal safely swimming towards the open sea.
Unfortunately, the little fella didn't make it.
Sad news: The Irish Whale & Dolphin Group have said that the young dolphin washed up in Doonbeg again last night.
— Cathal Pendred (@Pendred) April 28, 2014
I tried my best.
"He was found washed up in Doonbeg late last night," said Simon Berrow of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).
"There have been a number of live strandings of this species along the western seaboard in recent weeks so this would form part of a pattern," Simon added.
"This would really be the northern edge of their range, and strandings of this type are quite common."
Pendred, who can currently be seen on US TV screens participating in top fighter contest 'The Ultimate Fighter' - where contestants battle it out for a multi-million dollar UFC contract - was in Doonbeg to attend a friend's wedding when the beach drama unfolded yesterday morning.
"Myself and my girlfriend just woke up after the Saturday night in Doonbeg Lodge and decided to go for a walk on the beach," he told breakingnews.ie.
"We saw a crowd of people at the water's edge and when we got closer there was a man trying to refloat the dolphin, to push him out past the waves to deeper water.
"But he was running out of energy so I took off my tracksuit bottoms and said I'd give it a go."
The fighter said that the animal was injured and in distress.
"He was covered in cuts and was bleeding quite a bit - at one point he swam away but got swept over to some rocks where he got stuck," he said.
"I went over and he just gave this little kind of crying whimper - at that minute I felt I had to help him get to deeper water so I just thought to put my arms around him, pick him up and carry him out as far as I could."
According to the experts, his actions were worth a chance.
"I'd have done the exact same," said Simon Berrow, a founder member of the IWDG who lectures at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology,
"Because of the size of the dolphin it was worth giving it a chance and pushing it out to sea.
"There have been successful instances of dolphins being refloated in this way and surviving - but unfortunately for most animals like this, once they live strand at all their chances are quite slim."
The body of the dolphin will be collected this evening for a post mortem, but even that may fail to yield conclusive results as to cause of death.
"It can be very hard to know why they are live stranding and dying in apparently good condition," Simon said.
"Often there's no obvious cause of death, and it's a mystery."
Meanwhile Pendred has no regrets.
"That's dreadful news," he said of the dolphin's demise.
"I just did what I could to try and help."
