Updated at 11:36 a.m., Thursday, January 2, 2003
Rescued dolphin responding to antibiotic treatment
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The 4-month-old, 30-pound spotted female dolphin remains in guarded condition at the Marine Mammal Research rehabilitation facility at Marine Corps Base, Hawaii in Kane'ohe, said Margaret Akamine, the protected species program coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Blood samples are taken every day, Akamine said.
"She appears to be responding," Akamine said. "She is alert. She is seeking us out when we go in to feed her. When she was in really critical condition, she didn't want anything to do with us."
She said the dolphin also is back to eating fish and is taking her formula well.
"I don't want to give the public the idea that she is over the critical phase and on the road to recovery," she said. "We just don't know that."
The dolphin was found Christmas morning swimming in circles at Poka'i Bay and diagnosed with severe pneumonia.
