Dolphin 'Stranded' in New Jersey Freshwater River Miles From Ocean Caught On Video
"I felt bad for it," said a man who saw the dolphin. "It doesn't belong there."
— -- A bottle-nosed dolphin has been jumping in and out of water -- not in the ocean, but rather, in an inland freshwater river in central New Jersey.
The marine mammal in South River has been wowing spectators in Old Bridge, New Jersey, for over 24 hours since Wednesday afternoon when it was first caught on video by local David Herrick, who said he's more worried than wowed.
"I felt bad for it," Herrick, 38, told ABC News today. "It doesn't belong there. I was hoping he'd find his way back to the ocean, but I still saw him there as of this morning."
Herrick posted a video of the dolphin to Twitter Wednesday afternoon with the caption, "Dolphin stranded in Raritan River tributary." He said he hoped the video would grab the attention of authorities who could rescue it.
Marine Mammal Stranding Center technicians from Bigantine, New Jersey, were at the scene for most of Thursday trying to use an electronic underwater nuisance device that sends noise to the dolphin in an attempt to coax the dolphin out, the center's founding director Robert Schoelkopf said.
"The dolphin definitely doesn't belong in the river, which is mostly freshwater, and it's an out-of-habitat situation," Schoelkopf told ABC News today. "Unfortunately, the location is so remote and dangerous not only for the dolphin but for anyone in the water that we can't put any of our people in it. There are no banks on the side of the river, so it sort of just drops down and the river is covered with broken concrete and metal bars."
The animal "doesn't appear to be feeding and could be a senior," he said, adding that he's seen cases in the past where dolphins are just so old they move out of the ocean and go up a creek, where they then end their lives.
"We're hoping that's not case, and we're going to try again tomorrow if the dolphin isn't out by today," Schoelkopf said. "We just want to say that we definitely don't need anyone else trying to rescue the dolphin in the water. That will actually be more of a hindrance and cause further stress to the animal in addition to being dangerous."
The South River the dolphin is in is connected to the Raritan River, which is connected to the Raritan Bay, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Herrick posted a video of the dolphin to Twitter Wednesday afternoon with the caption, "Dolphin stranded in Raritan River tributary." He said he hoped the video would grab the attention of authorities who could rescue it.
The dolphin has been making an appearance every 1.5 to 2 minutes, according to ABC affiliate WABC-TV, whose helicopter captured photographs of the dolphin in the river near the Old Matawan Road overpass.
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