Dead dolphin found in North Myrtle Beach

A second dead dolphin was discovered along the Grand Strand this week.

A dead adult dolphin was found on the shores of North Myrtle Beach at 17th Avenue North Thursday, according to Pat Dowling, North Myrtle Beach city spokesman.

The city’s beach patrol notified the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and Coastal Carolina University to collect the animal, Dowling said.

The city’s sanitation division collected the dolphin and kept it secure until a professor from the marine science department at CCU arrived to obtain the dolphin so a necropsy could be performed, Dowling said.

A deceased newborn dolphin was found Tuesday morning by members of the South Carolina United Sea Turtles Enthusiast club, and it was also collected by officials with the marine mammal stranding group and taken to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Charleston for a necropsy.

Wayne McFee, research wildlife biologist with NOAA, said Tuesday that there are about 50 marine mammal strandings a year in South Carolina, and advised beach-goers against pushing stranded animals back into the water.

Beached animals are likely injured or ill and shoving them back into the water exposes them to dangerous predators, like sharks, he said.

This story was originally published August 26, 2016 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Dead dolphin found in North Myrtle Beach."