Stranded dolphin is rescued, set free in the Gulf of Mexico (USA)

This dolphin was stranded near Tigertail Beach on Marco Island on Thursday. Rescuers were standing by until high tide at 5 p.m. to assist it and will use a hammock to remove it from area if it can’t swim out on its own, according to Nancy Richie, environmental specialist with the city of Marco Island. / Roseanne Pawelec/Special to the News-Press

October 10^th, 2013. The ordeal for a dolphin stranded in a shallow lagoon near Tigertail Beach on Marco Island ended happily Thursday afternoon, six hours after it was first spotted.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Mammal Research and Rescue team and FWC law enforcement were joined by Marco Island Environmental Specialist Nancy Richie and Collier County park rangers in the rescue.

“She is echo locating,” Richie said, as the dolphin swam in circles “she’s attempting to find the way out.”

The rescuers corralled the dolphin, placing it onto a canvas sling. They drove the dolphin over dunes to open Gulf waters some 200 yards away, and released her.

Wildlife specialists are hoping the dolphin does not return, but marked the mammal’s dorsal fin with orange paint to identify it.

Richie said it is not uncommon for manatees to become stranded at low tide.

A helicopter pilot had spotted the dolphin from the air before landing to help it. The pilot found Kimberly Dowling as she walked on the beach around 7:30 a.m.

“He was flying really low, and I was waving to him and he came and he stopped on the beach and asked me if I had a cell phone,” Dowling said. “I asked what was going on, and he said there’s a dolphin stranded in a small pool of water here.”

Dowling used another walker’s cell phone to dial 911.

Biologists had thought they would wait until high tide at 5 p.m. Thursday and hoped the dolphin would float into deeper waters, but they decided to remove it from the water as quick as possible.

Witnesses said the dolphin did not appear to be overly stressed, but it clearly was agitated that its movement into open water in the Gulf of Mexico had been restricted.

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