Fundraiser for Ireland's first dolphin rescue trailer in Mayo

The North Mayo coast has become a hotspot for dolphin strandings.
A fundraiser has been established to raise money for Ireland's first dolphin rescue trailer in Erris.
Gemma O'Connor is organising the GoFundMe fundraiser on behalf of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG). She explained that Blacksod Bay is one of the country's main live-stranding hotspots.
Already in 2025, 24 dolphins have been in trouble there, and in 2022, 33 common dolphins stranded in a single day across three beaches, the largest mass stranding recorded by the IWDG.
"But these events are not new: one local who grew up overlooking one of the hotspot beaches recalls burying 28 common dolphins in the 1950s after a mass stranding, and recounts multiple mass strandings in the area, every decade since," she explained.
"Blacksod Bay is sheltered from the open water of the Atlantic by a peninsula. Pelagic common dolphins - oceanic dolphins not adapted to shallow coasts - follow small fish into the bay to feed. But when they try to head back west, they encounter the Mullet Peninsula and its large tidal sandflats dotted along the east side of the peninsula. Counter that with large tidal ranges during spring tides, sometimes as much as four metres, mass strandings do easily occur here. From Belmullet to Blacksod, it can be 20km before they reach open water. At low tide, the whole sandy seabed looks the same to them, and their echolocation seems to offer no way out. As the tide drains, the dolphins are left behind, live stranded on drying beaches."
IWDG live stranding volunteer responders work hand in hand with the local community during live strandings. They respond with borrowed open farm trailers but want a more permanent method of aiding stranded dolphins.
"We urgently need Ireland’s first dedicated Dolphin Rescue Trailer: a quiet, enclosed box trailer, which can be towed by a car, always packed and ready to safely transport dolphins to deep-water release sites, store essential rescue gear, and provide shelter for volunteers during long rescues. We also need funding to kit out this trailer with compact storage, PPE, safety equipment and dolphins specific waterproof soft foam flooring mats, to reduce bruising to the dolphins and allow their lungs to expand more easily now that they are experiencing the full weight of their bodies out of the water."