Rescues

The image shows Misha just prior to being released back into Tampa Bay, Florida, in 1990. Photo by Flip Nicklin On Oct. 6, 1990, bottlenose dolphins Misha and Echo were successfully returned to their native waters of Tampa Bay after two years in human care. Part of a unique

On March 1, 2016, we received a report of a dolphin that was entangled in a crab trap line off Nokomis Beach. We went to the dolphin’s last reported location from the night before, and found 10-year-old resident dolphin “Bill” with just his blowhole above the water. His tail was wrapped in the float

In December 2008, Ginger, a recently independent juvenile female dolphin, stranded on Siesta Key Beach. SDRP staff was among the first responders, stabilizing her before she was taken to Mote Marine Laboratory and treated for complications from the stranding. Ginger was a dolphin already known by SDRP, and at the time of her stranding

In February 2010, SDRP staff members spotted a young dolphin “wearing” plastic. We hoped that she would shed the material but it soon became apparent that would not happen. After receiving permission from the National Marine Fisheries Service, which oversees the protection of wild marine mammals, our team attempted to capture the animal to

Scrappy, born in 1998, is the calf of Scooby-Doo (who was given her nickname before we knew she was a she). He has been sighted hundreds of times since birth, but we remember him most for one of our 2006 sightings when we found him entangled in marine debris — a piece of fabric