In the last months of 2008, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program was given temporary responsibility for cetacean stranding response in Sarasota and Manatee Counties due to unexpected staffing issues within Mote Marine Laboratory’s Stranding Investigations Program. Prior to October, 2008 had been an unusually quiet year, with no strandings by Sarasota Bay resident dolphins. In October, a long-term resident, 54-year-old female FB63, died after being attacked by sharks and was recovered by SDRP staff. The second half of December was very busy for SDRP staff, with a live stranding by the 3.5-year-old first-born calf of FB 127 ("Ginger", described below), recovery of the carcass of the first-born young-of-the year calf of FB 159, recovery of an unknown 3-year-old male from Longboat Key, and recovery of a fresh carcass of a young-of-the-year from Terra Ceia Bay. During the same period, two reports of cetacean strandings were found to involve injured or dead sharks (see account below).

       Responsibility for stranding response is labor intensive. Staff must be prepared to respond to reports at any hour of the day (one of the dolphin-that-turned-into-a-shark reports came in at 1:00 pm on Christmas Day). Response for dead animal reports involves driving to a beach or searching by boat to confirm the report, then towing a carcass to shore, loading it onto a truck, and delivering it to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Marine Mammal Pathobiology Lab in St. Petersburg for a necropsy. Live animal response involves stabilizing the animal on the beach until a team can be mobilized from Mote’s dolphin hospital to pick it up and transport it to Mote.