By Jessica Jang

On Sunday 22nd of December, I had the opportunity to participate with the Marine Mammal Center and help move a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus ) carcass at Breakwater Cove. Risso's dolphins are distinguished by their bulbous head and white body which are heavily scarred from teeth raking between dolphins, as well as markings from their prey such as squid. They are a common species of dolphin found here in Monterey.

This particular individual was found washed up near Monterey and took more than 12 people to move this animal onshore away from the waves. We had to set tarps to make it easier to move it. Risso's dolphins weigh around 600 to 1,000 pounds and can reach a length of around 13 feet, making them one of the larger dolphins.

However, the area where we planned to move the dolphin was too steep and we lacked the manpower or the equipment to move the animal smoothly to the truck. So while we waited in the warm sunny weather on what to do next, we tethered the dolphin with rope to prevent the waves from dragging the dolphin back to sea.

So after waiting for an hour, we decided to have the harbor master tow the dolphin back into the water and transport to place to pick the dolphin up with a forklift. Took us two tries to push the dolphin back into the water. The first attempt the rope broke from the stress. Also timing of the waves were not in our favor most of the time, so we have to wait till the perfect wave came to push the carcass back into the water. Overall, I had fun! Never thought I would be able to see a Risso's up close and personal! Necropsy will be conducted soon, so hopefully we'll figure out what was the cause of death.