By Erin McKinney
This summer, SeaWorld Rescue responded to a call about a rough-toothed dolphin on the shore of Clearwater Beach. This dolphin was in a rough situation – he was too weak to swim and needed the help of animal care experts right away.
SeaWorld Orlando and their dedicated rehabilitation staff worked around the clock for 6 months to help bring this dolphin back to full health. After initially discovering that eating marine sponges had blocked his digestive tract, SeaWorld vets also performed a hearing test on the dolphin. They learned that in addition to digestive issues, he had significant hearing loss.
Dolphins and their cetacean relatives live in a world of sound. Hearing loss in a whale or dolphin is very often a death sentence due to the fact the affected animal can no longer receive communication from their social group, hear prey, or be alerted to predators in the area.
Thankfully, for this dolphin, SeaWorld Rescue and NOAA had other plans. After a 6 month rehabilitation at SeaWorld Orlando the federal government deemed him unable to be released into the wild and found him a forever home at Gulf World by Dolphin Discovery in Panama City Beach, Florida, where he will join 5 other rescued and rehabilitated rough tooth dolphins.
The caregivers have named the dolphin ‘Stan’ and he is doing very well in his new home at Gulf World.
“Stan is acclimating well to his new environment and his new companions,” Secret Holmes-Douglas, the Zoological Director at Gulf World said.
This rescue is just another in a string of the thousands of animals in need aided by SeaWorld’s rescue and rehabilitation team. One of the most respected animal rescue programs in the world, the SeaWorld rescue team has the expertise and passion to help animals in need, wherever they may be.
That’s true animal activism at work.