Bottlenose dolphin horribly injured is back jumping in West Highlands
SWNS The dolphin has healed well and can still swim strongly
Shane Wasik, founder of Basking Shark Scotland, and his team saw the dolphin to the south of Oban with the rest of its pod. It is believed that the dolphin was injured by a boat strike last year, after working with researchers from the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban to put together a chronology for the mammal's movements. However, the dolphin's wound appears to have sufficiently healed.
Mr Wasik said: "The dolphin pod was quite playful with us, approaching our boat at speed, wishing to bow ride along with circling us when we shut down the boat to watch them. "We immediately noticed that one has an obvious a large chunk missing from the bottom of the tail stalk. It was well healed and didn't seem to effect its movement much. "The damage looked to be from an impact and so, the most probable cause would have been a boat strike.
SWNS It is thought the dolphin was hit by a boat
The most probable cause would have been a boat strike Shane Wasik of Basking Sharks Scotland
"The first recorded sighting was in May 2016, along the coast of north-west Mull when the wound was thought to be 'fresh'. "The next sighting during June and July it was witnessed in the Sound of Luing by tour boats there, but the wound had healed to an extent. "Another sighting near Tobermory on Mull in July 2016 seemed to be the last recorded sighting we could find locally," he said.
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SWNS The pod of dolphins chased the and played in the Highland waters