Using blood gas analysis and capnography to determine oxygenation status in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Following the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010, poor pulmonary health and reproductive failure in coastal bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the northern Gulf of Mexico were well documented. The increased fetal distress and pneumonia found in affected perinatal dolphins could be caused by hypoxia in the dam from concurrent lung disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of blood gas analysis and capnography in determining oxygenation status in bottlenose dolphins with and without pulmonary disease. In 2016 and 2017, 30 managed dolphins from the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program in San Diego, California were sampled as a control population with known health histories.