Abstract
In December 2015, a dugong (Dugong dugon) was sighted at Merimbula, on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Merimbula is approximately 1200 kilometers south of the southernmost range of dugongs in Australia which is Moreton Bay, Queensland.
The animal was reported as being in poor condition with extensive skin lesions. It was, however, moving freely and seen feeding on the local sea grass species. Over the next two months it was evident that the animal's body condition was deteriorating and the skin lesions were worsening. Temperatures recorded during this period revealed that the water temperature that the dugong was inhabiting reached a minimum of 14°C during the night, much lower than the minimum that would be expected in Moreton Bay.
Due to the poor prognosis for the animal a decision was made to relocate the animal to Moreton Bay, Queensland.
On 21st January 2016, the animal was restrained using the "rodeo method."1 Blood samples were taken, sex was determined as male and morphometric measurements were obtained. The animal was transported by road to the local airstrip where it was loaded onto a RAAF Hercules and flown to the Gold Coast. On arrival at the Gold Coast airport the animal was transferred to a truck and transported by road to Sea World.
Once at Sea World the animal was placed in a concrete holding pool at the veterinary and quarantine centre. Sea grass was obtained locally and the animal began to eat immediately. Despite the animal consuming 10 kg sea grass per day, it lost weight during the rehabilitation period. Biopsies of the skin lesions revealed an irregular hyperplasia with parakeratotic hyperkeratosis as well as multifocal spongiosis, erosion, ulceration and a neutrophilic exudate. The histologic changes were within the range of changes reported for cold stress syndrome in manatees.2
Blood results revealed a mild anaemia and high levels of creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) when compared to normal values.3,4
The animal was treated with twice weekly intramuscular injections of haemoplex and daily intramuscular injections of ceftiofur (2 mg/kg).
After 12 days in the rehabilitation facility the animal was released. A satellite tag was applied to the animal for post-release monitoring.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the trainers and divers of Sea World Australia and Sea Life Sydney for their assistance in caring for this dugong during its time in rehabilitation.
* Presenting author
Literature Cited
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2. Bossart G, Meisner R, Rommel SA, Ghim S, Bennett Jensen A. 2003. Pathological features of the Florida manatee cold stress syndrome. Aquatic Mamm. 29:9–17.
3. Woolford L, Wong A, Sneath HL, Long T, Boyd SP, Lanyon JL. 2015. Haematology of dugongs (Dugong dugon) in southern Queensland. Vet Clin Pathol. 44:530–541.
4. Lanyon JM, Wong A, Long T, Woolford L. 2015. Serum biochemistry reference of live wild dugongs (Dugong dugon) from urban coastal Australia. Vet Clin Pathol. 44:234–242.