Dolphin treated after shark attack dies of pneumonia

BROWNSVILLE — A dolphin rescued from South Padre Island last month died of pneumonia, not as a result of bite wounds sustained in a shark attack.

The dolphin, named Bo Jingles, was discovered by fishermen near Beach Access No. 6 on Dec. 21. He died Jan. 6.

The mammal, in weak condition when found, had been cared for at the UTPA Coastal Studies Lab before being transported to the Texas State Aquarium Sea Lab in Corpus Christi. He was later taken to the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network facility in Galveston.

Bo Jingles died unexpectedly, said Lea Walker, regional coordinator for the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network in Corpus Christi. A necropsy was performed, and the cause of the dolphin’s death was pneumonia, she said.

“The lungs are what did it. (The pneumonia) was too far advanced for us to fix,” Walker said.

She said those treating Bo Jingles didn’t know how long he’d had pneumonia or how he contracted it. Officials believe the pneumonia could have affected how fast he could swim when he was trying to get away from the shark.

“He was a tough little guy. He fought,” Walker said. “The shark bites we could have fixed. Those were doable.”

Since his rescue, Bo Jingles had been tube-fed and nursed, and at times he was able to eat small fish.

Walker said it is not unusual for animals to get pneumonia, noting that’s the case with about 90 percent of the mammals that come to the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

Staff there had a hard time dealing with Bo Jingles’ death because it was unexpected, Walker said. Although staff members were aware Bo Jingles had pneumonia, they did not realize how much his lungs had been affected.

“He just touched our lives,” Walker said. “We hugged, cried and laughed.”

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Laura B. Martinez writes for The Brownsville Herald.