In 1990, an agreement was signed between the Severtsov Institute in Moscow, which specializes in the field of marine mammals, and the Dolphin Reef in Eilat. This agreement marked the beginning of Dicky's story. As part of the agreement, five dolphins were transferred from the Black Sea to Dolphin Reef, which is in the Red Sea. The group, which included two males and three females, were acclimated into the new site, a large, deep-sea enclosure.
After their arrival, the younger male made himself conspicuous by displaying his sex organ, and was therefore given the name "Dicky". When Dicky arrived, he was about five years old, and the other male, Cindy, was about eighteen years old. The differences in size and age made Cindy the undisputed dominant male, and in the beginning, Cindy was not bothered by the attempts of the younger one to justify his name. Dicky was very active socially, and as the dolphins at the site are not separated into groups, he participated in games, communal swimming, courtship, caring for babies, and a wide range of other group behaviors.
As part of a program begun in 1994 to release the dolphins out into the open sea, it was Dicky, more than any of the other dolphins, who was not afraid of the passage through the gate to the sea, and who made a habit of staying several times a week in the open sea, without supervision of a trainer, for as long as one to three hours. Over the years, his position in the group became stronger, and he became a threat to the dominant male. This was evidenced by chases, territory limitations, and the other male's total prevention of Dicky from approaching the females during the mating period. When he reached the age of ten, Dicky was a healthy, energetic dolphin, with a repertoire of some of the most advanced behaviors at the Reef, very curious, and very brave.
 With such a personality, it was clear that Dicky had no intention of "giving in" and forfeiting his future position in the group, and from our association with him, we knew that in spite of the chases and the limitations imposed upon him by the older male, Dicky would manage to find a way. And he did find his way to the next best alternative: people. Dicky exposed his sex organ and rubbed up against swimmers and divers. With all of our compassion and sympathy, his exaggerated friendliness was not accepted with understanding, and was stopped immediately by releasing him from the site area into the open sea.
After almost a year, when the mating season began and with it the renewal of the conflict between the two males, Dicky's return to the site was more problematic and he sometimes hesitated. Once, he even preferred to stay outside. We considered possibilities which would improve his social position, and by doing so, perhaps help him to fit into the activities at the site which are centered around the human-dolphin contact. When we were looking for a social solution for Dicky, we did not want to divide the site and separate the dolphins into groups, with an adult male in each group, because such action would mean massive and possibly harmful intervention in the dolphins' social structure. Since the existing situation did not allow Dicky to fit into the activities at the site, or to find an alternative group at sea, it was decided to return him to his natural habitat - the Black Sea - and by so doing, allow Dicky to fit in socially with dolphins of his own kind.
 A dolphin's release into the wild is a long process, demanding both logistical organization and a considerable investment of time and resources. Since conditions at Dolphin Reef allowed Dicky continuous practice in hunting live fish, a full social life, and experience in the open sea, we concluded that Dicky was ready for release to the sea and did not need a rehabilitation program. After undergoing blood tests, Dicky's health was found to be excellent, and he began training to get on a stretcher surface. In addition, all efforts were channeled into obtaining permits, booking a Russian aircraft, choosing the area and the way the release would be carried out, and finding a way to track Dicky afterwards. The members of the Russian Academy of Science became involved in Dicky's release operation, supplied the necessary permits, and recommended that Dicky be released at the exact place where he was caught: Taman Bay in the Black Sea.
Dicky's transfer began at 6:00 on the morning of August 20, 1996. After months of exercises to train him to mount the stretcher surface, at the moment of truth, Dicky felt the tension in the air and did not get on the stretcher. By surrounding him with a net in the water, Dicky was caught by hand, put on the stretcher, and transferred by truck to the plane. The Russian team, Andrei Abramov and Dr. Lev Mukhametov, took an active part in the transfer. Dicky was placed in a tank padded with sponge and filled in the bottom third with water. Andrei sat in the tank together with Dicky, held him, and provided him with human support throughout the transfer, which was relaxed and went smoothly. When they arrived in Russia, it took the customs authorities a long time to release the unusual cargo. The temperature in the plane rose and Dicky became stressed, stopped breathing, and showed no signs of life. After a few minutes, a small movement of his tail was seen and his breathing became regular. Those were the most difficult moments.
 Releasing Dicky as a lone dolphin could present a problem in his immediate absorption, and it was possible that if a group of dolphins were not found at the time of the release, he would choose to come close to the shore and to look for human company. In light of this, when it came close to Dicky's transfer date, an adult female dolphin was caught in Taman Bay. She was transferred to the research station at Utrish, where she was placed in a sea enclosure and given the name Blanca. The goal was to put her and Dicky together, and if the match was successful, the two would be released simultaneously in order to provide each other with immediate company.
From the plane, Dicky was transferred by truck to the Utrish research station, where he was put into the sea enclosure with his "intended", Blanca. About a half hour after his arrival, the two were seen swimming while touching each other and showing encouraging behavior and synchronization in their breathing. About an hour later, Dicky was eating local fish which were thrown to him, and on the third day, he had already reached his usual food intake of 10 kg.
 Three days after his arrival and meeting Blanca, the two were taken by truck to the Taman Bay area, and from there were transferred by boat to a distance of about 5 km from the beach, to the area where they were caught. Dicky and Blanca were pushed simultaneously from either side of the boat. After they were put into the water, Blanca was seen twice at a distance of about 25 meters from the boat, and Dicky was seen once about 30 meters from the boat. They did not turn toward the boat, and were not seen any more that day.
The original plan was to trace Dicky and Blanca after their release using a satellite tracking device attached to each of their dorsal fins, which would have detached itself after a few weeks. But when they arrived in Russia, the device was closely examined and it was decided that, despite its lightness, its presence would mark them as "different" and could disturb their establishing contact with local dolphins. Dicky and Blanca had enough to deal with, and it was certainly not a good idea to add more. Therefore, the original tracking plan was changed and, instead, Dicky and Blanca were marked on both sides of their dorsal fins by scratching the black epidermal surface. Dicky was marked with a "+" and Blanca with a "V".
 Two weeks after their release, a message was received from a fishing boat that the two marked dolphins were seen hunting fish in the company of a group of dolphins. Their location was about 200 km from where they were released. In February, about six months later, the marked dolphins were again sited hunting fish in the company of a group. Since dolphins from the Black Sea migrate in the winter to areas near Turkey, the members of the Academy did not expect to see the group until their return in the summer months. And indeed, in July and August of 1997, almost a year after his release, Dicky was seen several times, together with Blanca and the group of dolphins, hunting fish in the open sea.
Our success with Dicky gives us new hope and inspiration for the development of the human-dolphin bond and understanding that can exist. |