A dolphin named Lucky was rescued from a shallow lagoon in the middle of a neighborhood in South Carolina.
Lucky the Dolphin Rescued After Getting Stranded in the Middle of a South Carolina Neighborhood
Locals in Bluffton, S.C., couldn't believe their eyes when they found a dolphin stranded in a shallow lagoon in the middle of a neighborhood.
The female dolphin, named Lucky, had apparently swum from the sea to the lagoon during "a period of heavy rain and high tides," but when the water levels went down, she was stranded in the lagoon far away from the ocean.
Thankfully, all's well that ends well because a team of experts and laypeople all successfully banded together to rescue Lucky.
Experts and volunteers banded together to transport Lucky back into the ocean.
"Last Saturday we got a call about a dolphin stranded in a lagoon in Bluffton, SC," the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network wrote on Facebook about the incident, alongside photos of Lucky and the rescue mission.
"At first, we couldn’t believe the location or report as the dropped pin appeared to be in the middle of a neighborhood. But, after careful review of a video- it was a true! Lucky, a female bottlenose dolphin well-known to researchers at the University of South Carolina Bluffton, became trapped in a shallow tidal lagoon inside a Bluffton neighborhood after a period of heavy rain and high tides. As the water receded, she was left isolated in just a few feet of water with no escape route back to the river."
Lucky is huge — weighing up to 500 pounds.
~Luckily~ a good samaritan spotted Lucky and eventually the LMMN team was alerted.
"We received the call just after noon and deployed a team from Charleston, including Executive Director Lauren Rust, stranding responders Tracy Kowalczyk and John Kane, and Hilton Head-based volunteer Amber Kuehn," the organization explained on social media.
The rescue team posed with Lucky during the mission.
When the team arrived they realized they were dealing with the definition of a real big fish in a small pond (although yes, of course we know dolphins are not fish, but please let us have this one). Lucky measures almost eight feet long and weighs in the region of 400–500 pounds. As a result, the team called in reinforcements from the Bluffton Township Fire District.
"Thanks to the help of the fire department members and local residents, Lucky was gently guided onto a marine rescue tarp and carried 75 yards through shallow water and up a steep embankment," the post continued. "From there, she was trailered to a private dock and released into deeper waters of the May River - healthy, alert, and ready to swim free."
LMMN was really proud that they were able to rescue Lucky.
As the LMMN mentioned, researchers at USCB already knew Lucky well.
After her heroic rescue, they've since seen her around lots.
"We spotted her swimming and behaving normally," Alyssa Marian, who manages a dolphin survey program for the university, told USCBe Informed in August. "She does have some new scarring on the tip of her dorsal fin."