Getting lost, even at with all of our technology, can still be hard to handle. Finding how to navigate around unknown places requires a lot of patience and understanding.

But when you’re a dolphin – and the world is surrounded by humans, sometimes losing your way means getting stranded, often leading to death.

However, thanks to a group of biologists, a small pod of dolphins got a bit of help finding their way home.

In a canal in Clearwater, Fla., a resident noticed a dolphin that seemed to be staying in one spot for too long. After 4 days, they called the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and voiced concern that the dolphin might be hurt or lost.

After talking to the resident, Brittany Baldrica, senior rescue biologist with the aquarium, knew she needed to find a way to help it. She had recently helped another dolphin, named Izzy. Izzy had been stuck in another canal after being injured, and had to be taught how to hunt again before being let free.

Image from YouTube

While the Marine Mammal Protection Act says that you can’t bother or feed marine mammals, Baldrica knew that this dolphin might just need rescuing.

She told reporters that at first, she and other biologists watched the dolphin for nearly 18 days.

“He was behaviorally ok at that point and then upon talking to other people within the residency, they had said the animal may have been there for at least four days, so we were just concerned he got separated from other animals,” Baldrica said.

But after watching him, she and others realized they would need to lend a hand if they wanted the dolphin to make it out alive. So a group of 28 biologists from the aquarium, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission went into the canal where the dolphin was stranded. To their surprise, they found 3 other dolphins stranded, as well. There was one more adult dolphin, and two calves. 

They formed a “wall of sound”, hoping to spur the dolphin into moving through the canal and out into Tampa Bay.

“The goal was to not put hands on the animal. The goal was to just be a barrier that was novel to the animal, so we wanted to create a physical barrier as well as an auditory barrier, so we had somebody behind us that was banging on a boat, revving their engine and then we were splashing the water and 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 able to keep that chain together,”  said Andy Garrett, a biologist with the Florida Fish Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The dolphins were interested, they actually came over right away, and kind of investigated.”

The biologists later told reporters that they think that the dolphins might have been scared of the bridge that ran over the canal. That fear was preventing them from making the swim back out into open water. 

“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,” the aquarium said in a press release.

Watch below to see how the biologists worked together to save the dolphins.

Sources: Good News Network | Insider