Ireland: Dingle town remembers Fungie, the dolphin who lived there for over three decades

The people of Dingle gathered to remember Fungie the Dolphin on Sunday, 17 October, a year after it was reported missing. The bottlenose dolphin named Fungie had been living in Dingle, in southwest County Kerry, Ireland since 1983, reported CNN. However, after 37 years, in 2020, Fungie was nowhere found in the water. Now, as a year passes by since Fungie was last spotted, Jimmy Flannery, who has been operating a company Dingle Dolphin Tours for more than thirty years arranged for a memorial to celebrate the dolphin.

As per the CNN report, Fungie was known by all the local fisherman's boats and would also accompany sea swimmers when they trained. The people of Dingle would love seeing Fungie and tourists from across the world were attracted to the dolphin, reported CNN. In order to catch a glimpse of Fungie, people from around the world visited this remote part of Ireland. Jimmy Flannery, who has been operating a company Dingle Dolphin Tours hosted a memorial to celebrate the dolphin Fungie.

Dingle town bids farewell to Fungie

For remembrance, free boat tours were carried out throughout the day from the Dolphin Statue. He and other local boat operators offered free boat trips to the entrance of the Dingle harbour on Sunday. "A blessing for the loss of all our loved ones and our coastal communities," Flannery informed on Facebook. As Flannery's boat left the Dingle harbour, he mentioned that Fungie was with them. A local priest and a Church of Ireland minister boarded one of the vessels and offered prayers at the sea.

Jimmy Flannery mentioned that due to the COVID-19 curbs, the tour operations were stopped. He mentioned that Fungie missed human interactions and by mid-October 2020, the Dolphin had vanished, reported CNN. Furthermore, Flannery revealed that it was the first time that the dolphin disappeared for more than a few hours. He added that a dozen of boats launched a search operation for Fungie and even rescue divers joined in, however, they were unable to spot Fungie. As per the CNN report, a Dingle resident and a founder of the Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium stated that Fungie might have died due to the age factor as Fungie was a teenager when he came to Dingle and the life expectancy of male bottlenose dolphins is up to 40 years. 

Image: Facebook/JimmyFlannery