Ireland

Searches for Fungie the dolphin hampered by poor weather conditions

Searches for the friendly bottlenose dolphin Fungie have been called off in Dingle, Co Kerry
Searches for the friendly bottlenose dolphin Fungie have been called off in Dingle, Co Kerry Searches for the friendly bottlenose dolphin Fungie have been called off in Dingle, Co Kerry

Searches of the sea surrounding Dingle in Co Kerry for missing dolphin Fungie have been hampered by bad weather.

The bottlenose dolphin, which arrived in Dingle Harbour in 1983 and has remained popular with tourists who take boat trips to interact with him, has not been seen last Tuesday.

A sighting of a dolphin two days later has yet to be confirmed to be Fungie, and over the weekend a number of searches involving boats and divers were carried out in an attempt to locate the sea mammal.

Since his arrival almost 40 years ago, it has taken no more than a few hours to locate the dolphin, prompting fears he may have been injured or died.

More searches got underway yesterday amid poor weather conditions.

Dingle Sea Safari tours, who take tourists out to sea to interact with Fungie, said in a Facebook post: "Even with the poor weather conditions today boats did venture to the mouth of Dingle Harbour but unfortunately no good news to report."