Dolphin in distress
An Atlantic white-sided dolphin that encountered difficulty during the recent storm and was washed up on shore, was lucky to have several people come to the rescue.
Some kind-hearted fishermen have saved an exhausted whitesided dolphin from certain death.
Desmond Brannen went down to Stoney Island Beach on Cape Sable Island Friday morning to see how rough the surf was.
Huge breakers were smashing along the shore, leaving marine castoffs, including a live dolphin.
Brannen took a photo and went back to show his uncle, Victor Brannen.
The men returned and tried two or three times to drag the dolphin out to the breakers, but the huge surf just kept tumbling the creature back onto the beach.
“We were soaking, wringing wet and cold,” said Victor, who then came up with an alternate plan.
With the help of James Swaine and Jordy Atkinson, the men heaved the dolphin up onto the tailboard of a truck. They drove to a nearby causeway where the water was calmer.
“It took the four of us and all of our might to get him on the back,” said Brannen, who estimates the dolphin weighed about 225 kilograms and was 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 15-minute drive.
When they arrived, the driver backed the truck into the water and they helped the dolphin 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.
Since then he’s heard that 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 awesome-looking 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.”