Dolphin Gone Missing!- Ava Mazzarella

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/fungie-dolphin-ireland-intl-scli/index.html

While Ireland goes back into another national lockdown, they face the loss of a friendly dolphin from the County Kerry coast in Ireland's southwest. A bottlenose dolphin, named Fungie, vanished from Dingle's harbor. He has lived there since 1983 and has become a beloved Irish celebrity over the past 37 years. Tourists came from all over to get a taste of his friendly nature and love for people. Guinness World Records even named Fungie the "longest recorded solitary dolphin"! But, he has not been seen since last Thursday.

Jimmy Flannery has been running Dingle Sea Safari Tours for 33 years and reports that this is out of character for Fungie, as he doesn't disappear often. By Sunday, Flannery had 12 boats, divers from the Mallow Search and Rescue team, plus a sonar scan of the seabed to search for Fungie. He believes that Covid-19 restrictions could be to blame for this, as non-essential boats were asked to stay off the water, therefore eliminating the company that Fungie had. Flannery predicted that the dolphin thought something was wrong and moved on. But, male bottlenose dolphins have a life expectancy of between 30 to 40 years, and Fungie was getting up to this age, so Fungie's disappearance was expected.

Dingle Sea Safari Tours will struggle with the business now that their star attraction is gone. Before coronavirus, up to 12 boats operated daily and the sea safari tours employed over 50 people. To people who have grown up with him, they had to have known that the day when he would not be here would be approaching. But the current situation has made things all the more gloomier.