Brittany Baldrica, a senior rescue biologist with Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA), said neighbors called about a dolphin swimming alone in the creek. A team from the aquarium monitored the dolphin for about 18 days and it didn’t leave the creek.
“This posed potential long-term problems for the animal, such as isolation from other dolphins and an increased risk of harassment(烦扰) and human interactions. Therefore, NOAA determined it would be in the animal’s best interest to intervene to help the animal leave the area,” CMA said.
To get back into the open water the dolphin had to swim through a small opening under a bridge. The dolphin seemed afraid to go through it. A team of 28 people formed a human chain to create a visual(视力的) and sound barrier to guide the animal under the bridge and back to safety towards Tampa Bay.
“The goal was to not put hands on the animal. The goal was to just be a barrier that was new to the animal, so we wanted to create a physical barrier as well as an auditory barrier. We had somebody behind us that was hitting a boat to make a loud noise, revving(加速) their engine and then we were moving forward towards the animal, so we were giving the animal the option to swim through the bridge on its own,” Baldrica said.
“We’re thankful to the residents in the area who worked with us to help protect the animal from harassment and provided access to their property while we monitored and rescued the animal,” CMA said.
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