ARK Home

Updates on Harley the Spinner Dolphin

Harley is the young spinner dolphin that stranded on Mustang Island, Texas early last Tuesday morning (21 April).  She is currently housed in a 25,000 gallon tank at the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) in Port Aransas, Texas.  She is being attended by volunteers from the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TMMSN), UTMSI, students and members of the general public. 

Her rehabilitation is a joint effort by the ARK and TMMSN and both tax-exempt organizations will gratefully accept donations to help bear the costs.  Anyone wishing to volunteer to help Harley either directly or through contribution should contact our special number (361) 728-3455.

• Tony Amos Co-coordinator TMMSN Coastal Bend Region and ARK Director
• Lea Walker  Co-coordinator TMMSN Coastal Bend Region 

Updates

Official Press Release
Port Aransas, 26 April 2004, 8 PM CDT

Harley is now swimming on her own for much of the time after a week of being walked around her tank supported by TMMSN volunteers ... that's approximately 3,000 circuits of the tank each day.  Today, for the first time she took fish and squid offered to her by hand from a volunteer in the tank.  This is a major milestone in her recovery.

Harley, and I'm sure all those who attended to her last night, had an experience they won't forget: an intense four-hour thunderstorm with nearly continuous lightning and chest-rattling thunder.  The scene inside the darkened greenhouse that covers her tank was eerie and dramatic.  As the ARK area flooded with the torrential rain, the water rose to a depth of several inches inside the greenhouse.  Spinners are among the most highly strung of all dolphins and we worried that the storm would cause her stress to rise to dangerous levels.  Harley's heartbeat remained around fifty per minute while some of her helper's hearts were beating well above the 90-or so, normal for humans.

Harley has become vocal.  She often makes bubbles, clicks, squeaks, and chirps as she circles the tank.  This has been dubbed "the Bubble and Squeak Mode", after a famous English culinary dish.

top of page

Official Press Release
Port Aransas, 29 April 2004, 5 AM CDT

Harley’s overall health and well-being continue to improve, nine days after stranding on Mustang Island Gulf beach.  She now gets 3 Kg (6.6 lb) of capelin fish daily in five feedings at the ARK.  The fish has been kindly provided by the Texas State Aquarium. 

She swims unaided all the time now and is fed from the side of the tank by our volunteers.  She has some toys to play with that keep her stimulated: a beach ball, some long plastic “noodles”, and a boat fender anchored to a weight by a line that provides her something to rub against.  She is still just a “toddler” in dolphin years.  Our trained volunteers do go in the tank with her to provide some company each watch, but for much of the time she swims around her tank on her own, exploring it, changing direction, and looking more alert and active every day. She is constantly monitored by the TMMSN, ARK, and UTMSI volunteers

Harley makes a lot of noise.  She blows bubbles and makes loud clicking noises and other sounds.  We don’t know what she’s saying yet, but we’re trying to translate!

top of page

Official Press Release  
Port Aransas, 30 April 2004, 5 AM CDT

Harley seems to get more active with each passing day. It seemed not long ago that she only knew one direction (counter-clockwise) in her tank: now she changes direction and swimming pattern at will, plays with her toys and comes up to the edge of the tank to see who’s there.

Yesterday she had blood tests (results not known at this early hour) and was weighed and measured. She gained a little in size but lost some weight. We have again increased her food, now up to 8 lb of fish daily in five feedings. It is a joy to feed her now, dispelling the anxious days when we were not sure that she would even take her food when offered by hand. Now volunteers can throw fish in her direction just about anywhere in the tank and she will dive to find it. She’s looking sleeker and more agile each day.

While Harley gets all the attention these days, life at the ARK goes on. Harley’s tank is in the Favrot Greenhouse, also known as the Barnacle Bill House. The 180-lb Loggerhead sea turtle of the same name had to be put in another (newly-refurbished) tank to accommodate Harley. Yesterday a 100-lb sick loggerhead dubbed “Cinderella” was found 50-miles down-island by a Padre Island National Seashore turtle patrol volunteer and transported over the rough beach on an ATV. Transferred to a truck, Cinderella was brought to the ARK for treatment.

Taking a pre-dawn break outside Harley’s enclosure, the 4 AM to 8 AM volunteers heard the unmistakable sound of migrating upland sandpipers though the birds themselves were invisible in the dark before dawn. Through the stillness of a rare windless morning in Port Aransas, Harley’s breathing and clicking chatter could also clearly be heard. Life goes on, inside and out …

top of page

Official Press Release  
Port Aransas, 6 May 2004, 5 AM CDT

Harley is pretending to be a shark. On the overnight watches, when the Favrot Greenhouse at the ARK is darkened and just a single shaded light bulb gives volunteers enough light to write in the log, Harley’s dorsal fin is all you see coursing round the tank. And then you don’t see it; because for the first time in sixteen days she now swims underwater for several seconds at a time. It is so gratifying for all of the volunteers to see Harley now as a sleek young animal swimming and sounding with confidence, especially as we remember the days when we walked her around the tank and she was unable to swim without our support.

Now we’re concerned that she’ll remember she is a spinner dolphin and decide to take an aerial spin or two! She does remember that she is just a kid-dolphin and plays with her two favorite toys: a miniature clear-plastic football, a promotional item for a pharmaceutical product (“Ask your doctor if C******n is right for you!”), and a colorful splash ball. When she encounters either on her rounds, she takes one in her jaws and swims around the tank with it held underwater. When she tires, she spits one ball out and goes for the other ball.

Harley now consumes 11-lb of fish and squid daily in five feedings. The fish is being provided by the Texas State Aquarium while the ARK provides the squid, which we buy in commercial quantities. Any financial help with the purchase of food and supplies would be greatly appreciated by Harley and her Harley’s Angels volunteers. We still need volunteers help to fill in certain hours of the round-the-clock watch we keep on Harley. Especially needed are folks to fill in during the Monday-to-Friday normal working hours. There are very few places where ordinary folk can watch and record the doings of a sleek and beautiful spinner dolphin close up and personal, to steal a phrase from the sporting world. I don’t know this for sure, but Harley may be the only spinner dolphin to be seen outside of the open ocean … anywhere! Harley’s future has yet to be decided. We await results of some tests to make sure she is free of certain viral diseases, and decisions will need to be made by the National Marine Fisheries Service of NOAA.

top of page

Official Press Release
Port Aransas, 4 November, 1400 CST
 
Harley is the young spinner dolphin that stranded on Mustang Island, Texas on 20 April this year. She is currently housed in a 25,000 gallon tank at the Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) in Port Aransas, Texas. She is being attended by volunteers from the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TMMSN), UTMSI, students and members of the general public, but is about to go on a journey ....)
 
Harley the spinner dolphin will be transported to Mote Marine in Sarasota Florida from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute?s Animal Rehabilitation Keep (ARK) in Port Aransas, Texas on Sunday 7 November 2004.  After a quarantine period at Mote, Harley will be introduced to Moonshine, a pantropical spotted dolphin.  They are different species, but of the same genus (Stenella longirostris for Harley, Stenella attenuata for Moonshine) and similar in size.  It is hoped they will become companions.
 
A special transportation housing has been constructed to hold Harley during the journey.  She will travel by van from UTMSI to the Aransas County Airport in Rockport, Texas, and from there she will be flown to the Sarasota/Bradenton airport by Pilot Phil Rosenbaum of Austin in his Pilatus PC-12 turbo-prop aircraft.  Phil has volunteered his time and his aircraft to take Harley to her new home.
 
This morning, Phil flew into the Port Aransas airport for a ?dry run? to make sure that Harley?s transport housing (minus Harley) would fit into the aircraft, and for us to rehearse the loading.  Harley will be accompanied on the flight by Tony Amos, ARK Director and Research Fellow at UTMSI, and Co-coordinator of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TMMSN) Coastal Bend region and Dr. Tim Tristan, Veterinarian with the Oso Creek Animal Hospital in Corpus Christi.  Dr. Tim is Harley?s veterinarian with considerable experience in treating marine mammals.
 
Thanks in part to a gift from an anonymous donor, a small team of ARK and TMMSN volunteers will go to Sarasota by commercial flights to assist in the first few days of Harley?s sojourn at Mote.  Andi Wickham, ARK Coordinator will precede Harley to Florida to meet with Mote personnel.  Lea (Co-Coordinator of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TMMSN) Coastal Bend region) and Gary Walker and Theresa Mitchell will assist on Sunday in Port Aransas and Rockport and then fly to Sarasota via commercial airline.  Theresa is our most ardent volunteer: she has put in 70-hours every week for over six months looking after Harley.
 
We invite the press and media to witness this event at UTMSI starting around 7 AM, Sunday, and at the Aransas County Airport at 9AM when the Pilatus will arrive from Austin.  We ask that your participation be unobtrusive and please note that the principals involved in the move will probably not be available for interviews.  We must do this with all due speed.  This will be the first time that such a transport has been attempted.
 
A picture of Harley (click here) living up to her name was taken this morning (4 November).
 

top of page

Official Press Release
Port Aransas, 5 November, 1700 CST

Please note that we have had to postpone moving Harley to Florida.  The move was to take place this Sunday, 7 November but a trial run today of her transfer into her transport box did not go as well as expected.  Due to the concerns for Harley's safety as well as those transporting her, she will remain in Port Aransas for approximately 4 to 6 weeks.  During this time, she will get additional training for transport.
 
 
(Harley's rehabilitation has been a joint effort by the ARK and TMMSN and both tax-exempt organizations will gratefully accept donations to help bear the costs. Anyone wishing to volunteer to help Harley either directly or through contribution should contact us at our special number (361) 332-1811 or at (361)-442-7638.  The ARK number is (361) 749-6793.  TMMSN volunteers are still attending to Noah, a male rough-toothed dolphin that stranded in late August.  Volunteers and donations are still needed for Noah.  Please contact the Texas State Aquarium's Sea Camp at the special number  (361) 654-8256
 
Author, Tony Amos  ARK Director and Co-coordinator TMMSN Coastal Bend Region.
 

top of page