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Photos, Videos: There Are Two Dolphins In The East River
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 17, 2013
Modified Mar 17, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 17, 2013
Modified Mar 17, 2013
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On Wednesday, a dolphin was spotted swimming around in the East River near 96th Street. Then on Friday, a dolphin was spotted on the other side of the East River near Astoria. Officials from the Riverhead Foundation weren't sure whether it was the same dolphin or a second one, but members of the North Brooklyn Boat Club took to the water yesterday and confirmed there are TWO dolphins currently hanging out in the East River. And like a lot of Manhattan residents, the bottlenosed dolphin from the Upper East Side has moved to Greenpoint.
"We paddled out today and saw the dolphin further south—near Greenpoint," North Brooklyn Boat Club member Willis Elkins told us. Despite the snowy conditions, they spotted the second dolphin uptown: "Kayakers from our club also spotted a second, and smaller, dolphin north from where we were in the canoe—near the Queensboro bridge on the west channel," he said. "The dolphin appeared healthy and quite active— we followed it around for over an hour and got within about 20' on a few occasions."
This meshes with what Riverhead Foundation director Rob DiGiovanni told us on Friday; he said the dolphins were both spotted free swimming and didn't appear to have any injuries, so there was no need to intervene (for now). Even if you wanted to herd them, it wouldn't be so easy, as Kim Durham of Riverhead Foundation added: "Typically they dont go where you want them to go."
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dolphins
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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