WINTHROP, MASS. (WHDH) - A rare sight led to a frantic rescue in Winthrop as community members banded together to save a dolphin trapped in an inlet.
People out enjoying a beautiful night on Saturday at the inlet near Coughlin park noticed something strange, a dorsal fin poking out of the calm waters.
“It was really cool but, I did feel bad because it is probably really unusual for that to happen,” Allison Earl said.
Early Sunday morning, a beached dolphin was found dead and the New England Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Team was dispatched to help the second.
“It is extremely rare to see these larger dolphins come into these little, shallower, cove-type areas,” Biologist Adam Kennedy said.
With the help of the Winthrop harbormaster and people who live nearby paddling out in boats for hours, the dolphin was eventually coaxed into deeper waters.
“We got the animal out,” Kennedy said. “It actually came back, so we had to re-get-it-out.”
The last time the animal was seen, it was headed out past Deer Island.
Biologists at the aquarium hope it will be able to meet up with a pod in order to increase its chances of survival.
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