Joggers saved stranded dolphin

A morning training session turned into a rescue mission to save a beached dolphin in Sydney, Australia. A jogger found the Risso's dolphin with a gash to its head lying on its side in the shallows of North Curl Curl Beach.

Five men helped slowly right it and got it back into deeper water. They then spent half an hour nursing the animal so it could regain its strength, before it eventually swam back out to sea. One rescuer Richard Smith said: "We went out there and just held it for a while and it regained its composure I guess and off it went. It was pretty amazing."


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"Dolphins are surprisingly heavy," said another rescuer Pierce Howell. Libby Eyre from Sydney Sea Life Aquarium said it was unusual to see this type of dolphin in the shallow water as they're usually a deep water species. "We don't know why it's come ashore, it could be sick or injured," she said.

The dolphin had some scratches around its face which could have been from colliding with something or maybe an injury from even before it was stranded. Unfortunately there is a strong chance that it will come back, but according to Ms Eyre, "if it swam off strongly which I'm led to believe it did than that's a good sign."