‘We thought it was the right thing to do’

“It was unbelievable. His eye was almost like a human’s. It was like he was thanking us for doing this. It kind of broke my heart at the time.” Desmond Brannen

“It took the four of us and all of our might to get him on the back,” said Brannen, who estimates the dolphin weighed in the vicinity of 400- 500 pounds and was about the length of a person.

Once aboard the truck he opened his eye and looked the men “right in the eye.”

“It was unbelievable. His eye was almost like a human’s. It was like he was thanking us for doing this. It kind of broke my heart at the time,” said Brannen.

Before they started off, the dolphin began floundering around, so Swaine and his girlfriend rode in back, pouring a bucket of water over it during the 10-15 minute drive.

When they arrived, the truck was backed into the water and the dolphin was helped off the tailgate into the ocean.

“We held onto his fin until he got going and began blowing air out of his blowhole.

“He made a couple of circles around, more or less as if to say thank you, and that was the last we saw of him,” said Brannen.

He adds that since then he’s heard others saw the dolphin swimming near the causeway.

He still marvels at the close encounter.

“His skin was just slick with a little roughness. It’s the first time I was ever close enough to touch one. They’re awesomelooking animals,” he said.

“We thought it was the right thing to do, even if he would have died going there ( to the causeway). At least we tried. Thank goodness he survived.” An Atlantic white-sided dolphin that had become stranded at Stoney Island Beach on Cape Sable Island on Jan.5.