10/25/05 Contact: Charles Martin, 334/844-3698 (marticd@auburn.edu)
David Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)

VETERINARIAN TO DISCUSS RESCUE OF DOLPHINS DISPLACED BY HURRICANE KATRINA

AUBURN – Dolphin veterinarian Forrest Townsend will give a special presentation Oct. 28 at Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine about the rescue of dolphins and sea lions along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

Townsend, a marine mammal veterinarian from Fort Walton Beach, Fla., will present “Katrina Animal Rescue: Has Anybody seen my Dolphins? Sealions?” at 3 p.m. in the veterinary college’s Overton Auditorium.

“This will be a great opportunity to hear firsthand the amazing stories of how veterinarians found and fed the animals displaced from The Marine Life Aquarium in Gulfport, Miss.,” said Gary Beard, assistant dean. “Some of the captive dolphins were found in Mississippi Sound and a wild dolphin calf was rescued from a golf course lake. There were also sealions running though downtown Gulfport.”

Townsend owns Bayside Hospital for Animals in Fort Walton Beach and is a 1976 graduate of Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He is on the faculty of the Dolphin Biology Research Institute in Sarasota, Fla., and is co-owner of Trac Pac Inc. which specializes in radio and satellite tracking devices for dolphins and whales.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

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