Dolphin release ends tragically

Dunham, an injured dolphin that was nursed back to health for seven months and released Tuesday, was attacked and killed later in the day by a large shark. The Atlantic bottlenose dolphin was rescued in December off Anclote Key, emaciated and battered with cuts. He was released Tuesday morning from Honeymoon Island and briefly joined a pod of passing dolphin before heading south toward Clearwater Beach on his own. Approximately three hours later, as staff from Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Gulf World Marine Park and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute continued to follow Dunham in two boats, he surfaced bloody and in great distress. Before anyone could safely move in to help, he surfaced again with even worse bite wounds. Below are several images by Times photographers Jim Damaske and Douglas R. Clifford, taken during the initially successful release.Click here for the full story.

Dunham, estimated to be between six and nine years old, was transported overnight by van from Panama City for the release on Tuesday. Cleawater Marine Aquarium staff rescued him from Anclote Key Island in December last year. He was found emaciated, weighing 245 pounds, with several superficial abrasions. CMA gave him antibiotic injections, fluids and supported him in a triage pool overnight before he was transported to Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City. The dolphin suffered from pneumonia and severe gastritis. After almost seven months of rehabilitation, he weighed about 275 pounds. CMA staff planned to monitor progress for two months through a tiny VHF transmitter attached to his dorsal fin. [JIM DAMASKE, Times]

Steve McCulloch, uses a blue board as a background to document Dunham the dolphin's dorsal fin, with radio transmitter attached, before the release. McCulloch is the program manager for Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute's Marine Mammal Research and Conservation program. [JIM DAMASKE, Times]

With a transmitting device attached and zinc oxide coating his fin, Dunham swims away. [JIM DAMASKE, Times]

The attack by a large shark that killed Dunham the dolphin came about three hours after the release, near the spoil island in the center of this photo taken from the Memorial Causeway looking North across the Intracoastal Waterway and Clearwater Harbor. [JIM DAMASKE, Times]

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Clearwater Marine Aquarium CEO David Yates and Diane Young, Head of Animal Care and Stranding Coordinator for the aquarium, answer questions from the media. "It was the largest shark I've seen," said Young of Dunham's attacker, believed to be an approximately nine-foot-long tiger shark. [JIM DAMASKE, Times]