IT HAS been confirmed that a dolphin washed up on Doughmore Beach this week is not Dingle’s beloved friend.
A local was walking on the strand at Trump International Hotel and Golf resort when he made the unfortunate discovery.
Naturally, his first thought was that it could be Fungie, the bottlenose dolphin who has been missing from the Kerry coast for the last couple of weeks.
He reported the find to two Gardaí who were patrolling the beach.
CEO of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group Dr Simon Berrow confirmed to The Clare Echo that the washed up dolphin was in fact a Common dolphin and therefore could not be Fungie.
He commented that it was difficult to know what killed the adult male Common dolphin.
Two more Common dolphins washed up at Carrowmore, Doonbeg and Lahinch over the weekend.
Dr Berrow noted that Common dolphins are the most frequently stranded dolphins and that 2020 is a record year for strandings.
2019 previously held the record for strandings.
Fungie first appeared in Dingle harbour in the autumn of 1983 and decided to make the west Kerry town his home.
In 2019, he was named the oldest solitary dolphin in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. The search for Fungie has been stood down, but there is no doubt the people of Dingle will be keeping an eye on the horizon, hoping he will come home.
