There’s still no sign of the beloved dolphin, Fungie.
It’s been a few weeks since Dingle’s mascot was last spotted in the bay, but the search continues.
To say that the town of Dingle is shook since the bottleneck dolphin went missing would be an understatement. Fungie was not only a dolphin, locals would call him a friend.
No one knows what happened to the friendly dolphin. It’s as if he just disappeared without a trace and it seems that Dingle won’t be the same again until they find out what happened to him.
What exactly did happen to the dolphin, we may never know, but some experts do have a couple of theories.
Marine biologist, Dr Kevin Flannery, in Kerry told The Mirror: “I would say that at this stage, because he hasn’t returned, we’re looking at the age profile. Basically what happens to old dolphins at that stage is that they’re unable to catch their own food and with his age profile, he has possibly died of starvation.”
He explains: “A wild animal that has to catch his own fish for 40 or 50 years, he would be slowing down, like we all do coming up to that age. And trying to catch fish won’t be as easy, so the possibility of starvation comes into play – that he could have died of hunger or something like that.”
That’s the worst case scenario according to Dr Flannery, but there are a few other reasons why Fungie could have gone missing.
He could have gone searching for food in the deeper waters, or this all could have a really romantic ending and he could have found love after all these years.
I’m all for romance, so I’m going with Fungie found Fungella and they swam off together to the Bahamas.
The search still continues in Dingle for the dolphin. Jimmy Flannery, from Dingle Sea Seafari tours, told the Mirror that they still hope to find him but searchers are “drained – mentally and physically”.
“People have to realise and respect this is a friend that’s gone missing. It’s not an object.”
