Mystery over rarely seen dolphin found on remote hillside in Northern Ireland

The body of an unusual species of dolphin has been found about two miles from the sea in County Donegal. The mammal, with distinctive black and white markings, was found on a remote hillside near Meenbanad.

It had injuries to its head but it is not clear how it died or how it ended up so far inland. Niamh Bonner, who came across the creature, said people are baffled about how the creature ended up in the hills. "It is not like it is even beside a road and was dumped off a lorry," she said.



"It had to be dragged there because it is about 100 yards off the road. It's a bit of a mystery as to how it got there." Padraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group thinks it was part of a group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins that beached at nearby Traigheanna Bay in Dungloe on 21 June.

Mr Whooley says sightings of such dolphins are fairly uncommon as they tend to stay much further out to sea. "The only thing I can think of is that it was taken there to decay naturally by someone. It could have been taken to this remote area so it could decompose naturally leaving a skeleton which could have been put on show," he said.