A dolphin hospital is coming to Cape Cod

ORLEANS – A first-of-its-kind dolphin hospital is set to open on Cape Cod this month.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare will run the short-term rehabilitation center for dolphins and porpoises. According to the Cape Cod Times, it will be on Route 6A in Orleans at a former auto supply shop.

The space has been outfitted with two large pools about 15 feet in diameter that can hold 4,500 gallons of water. It will also include office space and a veterinary lab.

Cape Cod sees more mass strandings of dolphins than anywhere else in the world, the IFAW says. There are no facilities like this one for dolphins north of Florida, so rescuers have had to treat any stranded dolphins on the beaches where they wash up.

“With the new facility, we aim to improve the survivability of stranded dolphins and porpoises,” says IFAW’s Brian Sharp, the director of the marine mammal rescue and research team.   

The organization expects to treat about 12 stranded dolphins a year. When a dolphin is at the facility, it will be staffed 24 hours a day. Dolphins would be released back into the water after four days of treatment.

The new center will not be open to the public, but an educational space in the front of the facility will have TV monitors to allow visitors to see what’s happening inside.

The IFAW says it has responded to more than 400 stranded dolphins, whales and porpoises on Cape Cod in the past five years.