Stranded Dolphin Dies In Sunny Isles Beach

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SUNNY ISLES BEACH (CBSMiami) – An attempted dolphin rescue in Sunny Isles Beach ended with the animal's death on Tuesday. A virus could be to blame.

Since 2013 about 1000 dolphins from New York to Florida have died to morbillivirus.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials said the dolphin beached itself at around 3 p.m. on the beach near 179th and Collins.

Lifeguards put the dolphin back into the water right behind the Trump International Beach Resort.

They had been holding the dolphin at around 20 feet of water.

NOAA and FWC biologists were assessing the dolphin's health when it died.

The dolphin will be taken to FAU's Harbor Branch Facility in Fort Pierce for a necropsy.

They cannot say definitively if it died from the morbillivirus but everything points to it.

There was an outbreak of morbillivirus in the '80s and it decreased the dolphin population significantly.

There is a concern the dolphin population will be significantly decreased again.

Marine officials are on high alert for this.