A Dolphin carcass was found afloat near Cuffe Parade on Monday afternoon.
Following complaints from the local residents to BMC and the forest department a team of Forest department and mangrove cell has rushed to the spot.
"We have received calls from BMC and the local residents about the Dolphin carcass and a team is on its way," said Range Forest Officer Suresh Varak.
This is not the first time, there have been many instances in the past several years, where carcasses of humpback Dolphins and even Porpoise have washed shore the Mumbai's coastline.
A carcass of seven feet Indian ocean humpback dolphin was found afloat near the Cuffe parade beach on Monday afternoon. Following complaints from the residents to BMC and Forest department a team of Forest department and mangrove cell rushed to the spot and removed the decomposed carcass.
Primarily, the death of the dolphin appears to have occurred due to suffocation the officials from the forest department suspect. They suspect that it happened after it might have got trapped in the fisherman's net or ropes and the rock somewhere deep inside the coast of a few days ago.
"The body washed to the shore on Monday afternoon and locals informed us. Prima facie we don't see any deliberate attempt to kill it, however, we will be talking to the fishermen near about this. The marine animal is estimated to have died a few days back at sea as the body was decomposed. If there is any other reason then it will be cleared after a necropsy. We will then dispose of the carcass as per the protocol," Suresh Varak, Range Forest Officer (RFO), Mangrove Cell.
In pictures taken by the locals, the dead Dolphin is seen afloat near Cuffe Parade and is tied with string/rope at its tail. "It is likely that some fishermen might have come across this dead marine animal and might have got it near the shore and left it there. We will investigate it," added Varak.
This is not the first time, there have been many instances in the past several years, where carcasses of humpback Dolphins and even Porpoise have washed shore the Mumbai's coastline. In August last year, a dead Whale Shark was spotted on the Southern coast at the Sassoon dock.
"These marine mammals are known to die due to different reasons — from natural causes to being hit by a propeller of a ship or being stuck in the nets, apart from other indirect reasons," said a marine biologist.
Meanwhile, a few netizens took to Twitter and slammed the government and local civic administration pointing out their inability to deal with marine pollution leading to death of marine animals.
