Porpoise Tess is doing reasonably well at SOS Dolfijn in Anna Paulowna. The porpoise stranded on Texel yesterday. The animal has contracted severe pneumonia. She is also dehydrated and emaciated, but fortunately she is being treated well, says SOS Dolfijn: “She eats well and is on medication. She is just quite stubborn.”
Swimming alone is not yet an option for Tess harbor porpoise (named after Texel). In the coming days, the animal will therefore be supported day and night by volunteers who let the porpoise ‘swim’ through the basin. “She is really very weak and just floats through the water,” says Annemarie van den Berg of SOS Dolfijn. “But she is a lady with spirit. She cannot be sent just like that.” It is the first harbor porpoise that is really treated in the foundation’s brand new accommodation in Anna Paulowna.
Economical
The reception center is located on the grounds of Landgoed Hoenderdaell in Anna Paulowna. Visitors can watch the treatment of the porpoise from the educational room. SOS Dolfijn hopes to make visitors more aware of life in the North Sea. Van den Berg: “I hear people say that it is a lot of work for one such animal, but we tell everyone that we have to be careful with the North Sea. Here you see such an animal from the North Sea in real life and that come in then.”
Below are images of Tess porpoise in the basin of SOS Dolfijn in Anna Paulowna.