Irish Sister City's Famous Dolphin Mascot Goes Missing

By Lauren Bray, edhat staff
It's a sad time for the small seaside fishing town of Dingle, the Irish sister-city to Santa Barbara.
Earlier this week, residents report the town's marine mascot for 37 years, Fungie the Bottlenose Dolphin, has gone missing. The single dolphin has lived at the entrance to Dingle's harbor since 1983 and is a focus of the town's tourism industry. He even holds a Guinness World Records title-holder for the "longest recorded solitary dolphin."
Dingle boasts dolphin tours, dolphin hats, dolphin shirts, dolphin pens, a dolphin memorial, and even a dolphin sculpture coming out of a building. They even have a dolphin statue resembling those in Santa Barbara that was created by our very own Bud Bottoms.
Fungie statue created by Bud Bottoms in the Dingle town square. (Photo: Wikipedia)
I traveled to Dingle in 2017 and spoke with many locals about their love of Fungie. The owner of the Bed & Breakfast I stayed at explained Fungie would closely follow the boats of the fisherman. Over the years he grew more comfortable with human contact and according to the locals would put on great shows with his dolphin acrobatics.
Fungie was last seen on October 15 when he swam alongside a fisherman's boat. On Monday, October 19, locals helped coordinate an extensive search, according to CNN.
"It is totally out of character for him. The most he has ever disappeared for was four or five hours," Jimmy Flannery, chairperson of Dingle Dolphin Boat Tours, told CNN. "We had 12 boats searching by Saturday, and on Sunday, divers from the Mallow Search and Rescue team carried out an extensive search of the coves and inlets where he would normally be seen. They also carried out a sonar scan of the seabed, but there was no trace."
There are many theories as to why Fungie has disappeared. It could be due to increased COVID-19 restrictions in Ireland that may have signaled something was wrong as boats and tours were not operating as they used to.
It also could simply be his time to sail into the golden sunset. Fungie is at least 37 years old and male bottlenose dolphins have a life expectancy of between 30 to 40 years.
"Fungie is a part of all of our lives," Flannery said. "We are hoping that he has swam off on an adventure. We live in hope that he might come back again."
Related Article
March 17, 2018: Santa Barbara's Sister-City - Dingle, Ireland
26 Comments
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Oct 24, 2020 11:51 AMSorry to say I don’t believe Dingle remains a sister city of Santa Barbara — caught the city council meeting in April when those relations were dissolved through vote.
Still appreciate some Dingle news, though!
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Oct 24, 2020 04:47 PMWas there a reason for severing the relationship?
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Oct 24, 2020 04:53 PMHere it is, in the January meeting minutes:
https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/SBdocuments/Advisory_Groups/Sister_Cities_Board/Current/05_Minutes/2020-01-29_Sister_Cities_Minutes_01-29-20.pdf
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Oct 24, 2020 07:40 PMNow that is a fun linked read !!! “The delegation that visited In 2018 didn’t feel that welcome”. I demand a back story!!!! Who did Santa Barbara send? And how were we not made to feel welcome? Did they leave our “delegation” with a big bar tab or what???? Common... who’s got the inside Dingle scoop????
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Oct 25, 2020 10:07 AMDuke, google is your friend. Independent has past articles about the visit and the extent of the local Dingle Sister Cities operation - apparently a sole couple with no wider community connections. Sister Cities has qualifications for participation which apparently were no longer met.
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Oct 25, 2020 12:39 PMTo be fair, the article essentially states that we changed the rules on Dingle. We got rid of them.
As far as the couple... I must say I don’t understand. This is is a very small town. Population about 2,000. What were we expecting?
Either way, Springfield, MA seems very happy with Dingle as their new sister:
https://www.masslive.com/news/2017/12/the_city_of_west_springfield_h.html
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Oct 24, 2020 08:34 PMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhLyQ5s9a90
here is Dingle
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Oct 24, 2020 09:06 PMI’m truly and desperately fascinated by this Sorry!!!! what happened in 2018 in Dingle???? Who did we send and how did it go so poorly that as soon as the “delegation” got back they strongly recommended we find A new city????!!! If Edhat was made for anything... it was made for the story of the Irish Debacle in Dingle in 2018!!!!!!!!
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Oct 24, 2020 09:09 PMCompletely agree. We found the news puzzling and disappointing. Would love to understand what happened. Who knows what Dingle had to put up with from us?? Weird our delegation was so upset.
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Oct 25, 2020 12:21 PM@DUKEMUNSON, HAhahaha! I totally agree! EdHat was made for that story, and I want to hear all about it too.
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Oct 24, 2020 08:35 PMOh, I'm sad, as I thought it was the statue that disappeared. But such is life, of which death is a part. Thanks for the story, Lauren.
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Oct 24, 2020 09:50 PMBeen to Dingle many times, as my husband’s family is from a nearby town, Listowel. Always felt very welcome! Wonder what really went on in 2018?
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Oct 25, 2020 08:17 AMThe Indy ran an article back in Apt 2020 about the dissolved relationship with Dingle. https://www.independent.com/2020/04/29/santa-barbara-city-council-unwittingly-declares-war-on-irish-seaport/
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Oct 25, 2020 08:41 AMWow. My apologies to Dingle. Wouldn’t blame them if they removed the dolphin statue... probably reminds them of us.
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Oct 25, 2020 08:43 AMI was in Dingle in 2016 and felt very welcome. Also had the bet fish & chips I've had in a pub there. Too bad that our City Council dissolved the sister city link with them.
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Oct 25, 2020 08:44 AMBy the way, I didn't see Fungie when I was there, only his statue.
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Oct 25, 2020 08:56 AMWe must fight this injustice! I’ve never been to single but I did once meet a Dingle’ing and... well... I don’t remember much from that night but my general impression was positive!!!!!! Which is a quite better impression than I’ve gotten from my few encounters with our own local officials!!!!
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Oct 25, 2020 08:50 AMWe sent some stiffs to Dingle and we had/have some stiffs on the board... I DEMAND THAT OUR SISTER CITY COUNCIL ALL IMMEDIATELY APOLOGIZE AND RESIGN... AND THAT WE BEG DINGLE TO TAKE US BACK!!!!!! I for one will be sipping a Guinness Tonight (at the correct Temperature of course) In solidarity with my Dingle brothers and sisters!!!
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Oct 25, 2020 09:33 AMThe “poetry incident” blows my mind...
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Oct 25, 2020 09:45 AMAgreed...I just gotta hear more of this story!!! What style of poetry was planned/penned? When the poets showed up at the pub and only 4 people were there did they bitterly And spitefully order Coronas ? Was any new poetry born from this deep and painful injustice the poets felt from their lack of rapturous audience ?????
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Oct 25, 2020 10:11 AMExactly. You don’t cause international chaos/hurt feelings just because your audience was somewhere else and you didn’t feel like finding them. Or whatever the heck truly happened.
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Oct 25, 2020 10:41 AMHere's the full scoop, as Nick Welsh reported in the April 29, 2020, Independent:
https://www.independent.com/2020/04/29/santa-barbara-city-council-unwittingly-declares-war-on-irish-seaport/
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Oct 25, 2020 12:31 PMWhat a travesty that Santa Barbara would cut ties with this Irish Sister City! SHAMEFUL! BRING IT BACK NOW! Ya Gobshite EEEdjits.!
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Oct 26, 2020 07:23 AMTempest in a Dinglepot.
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Oct 26, 2020 08:37 AMSmall bit of hope
https://www.irishpost.com/news/fungie-allegedly-spotted-around-kerry-coast-giving-hope-that-missing-dingle-dolphin-might-still-come-home-195960
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Oct 26, 2020 09:32 AMExcellent! Fingers crossed!