Featured Image Credit:TorontoStar
By Jessica Kittel
Part Two
This is where the humans come in handy. As CBC News mentions, the dolphins couldn’t live in this shallow harbor indefinitely. Although they were still in good condition, the resources in the small harbor weren’t abundant enough to sustain the pod.
It became clear that the dolphins would need some assistance, if they were ever going to see the big blue ocean again. Luckily, response teams had a few tricks up their sleeves that could get the job done. Of course, responders were aiming to be as unobtrusive as possible. ABC News points out, the more stressful the situation, the less likely the dolphins are going to recover quickly.
During high tides, responders made multiple attempts at coaxing the pod into the throughway using food as bait. Unfortunately, the dolphins weren’t going to be persuaded so easily.
The next strategy involved using acoustic “pingers.” The team hoped they would annoy the dolphins enough to leave the area. With a name like “pingers,” you would almost expect positive result. Unfortunately, this attempt failed as well.
Finally, after some trial and error, responders decided to bring out the big guns (figuratively people, figuratively). Five boats worked together using a combination of acoustic sonar (the pingers), bait, and a weighted barrier wall that was placed behind the dolphins.
The pod was herded out of the harbor and towards the sandbar. The dolphins that required assistance and weren’t able to make it out on their own were finally moved to open water using dolphin stretchers.
After nine very difficult days, the persevering pod was finally free to swim off towards their home in the open ocean. It’s a safe bet that they’ll avoid the harbor from here on out.
How do you end a dramatic dolphin tale? Like this: