Porpoise Tess is getting better and better. She is already swimming again, eating well and cooperating well, according to the animal caretakers of SOS Dolfijn in Anna Paulowna. The young porpoise flushed this week on Texel. Together with a team of volunteers, SOS Dolfijn tries to patch up the porpoise as quickly as possible.
“It’s going very well,” says Mariëlle Staal, animal caretaker at SOS Dolfijn. “Since last night she has been swimming by herself again. She is a really tough lady. She has severe pneumonia and lungworms, but the treatment seems to be working well. It will certainly be a few more months before she can go back to sea.”
Love
Care for the harbor porpoise is intensive. Sometimes 24 hours a day. This is done with the help of volunteers. They guide the porpoise in the water and monitor, among other things, whether the animal is coughing and how often it is breathing. Linda Sikman from Breezand absolutely loves it. “Yes, it’s just wonderful that you can save such an animal. Love goes out. It makes me very calm.”
“We could still use some volunteers,” says animal caretaker Mariëlle Staal. “It is mainly the volunteers who guide weak animals through the water if they are too weak to swim themselves. There is no special prior knowledge yet. We teach them what they need to know here. It is precisely thanks to the volunteers that we can give the animals a second chance to give.
Below are images of porpoise Tess and even more enthusiastic reactions from volunteers.