MANILA, Philippines — Dr. Lemnuel Aragones left early for Bauan, Batangas, on July 17 after receiving an urgent call from the regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). A dolphin was found on the town’s coast the previous afternoon.
Despite the busy schedule ahead of him that morning at the University of the Philippines Diliman where he teaches environmental science, Aragones drove to the province with his interns. There they found a Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) already thin and debilitated from starvation.
“Zero [food and water] for maybe three to four days,” Aragones told the Inquirer in a call from Bauan that Wednesday. “It was weak.”
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