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Letter to the editor

2 dolphins, a day trip, drama

They swim upstream into a creek, and find an audience.

By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer
Published August 17, 2007

One of two Atlantic bottlenose dolphins swims in Joe's Creek near 46th Avenue N on Thursday under officials' watchful eyes.
	[Scott Keeler | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Scott Keeler | Times] Spectators watch the dolphins - given the identification numbers CMA0709A and CMA0709B - swim in Joe's Creek.

The dolphins had the last laugh.

They waited placidly most of Thursday in Joe's Creek as people buzzed on banks above them: Concerned biologists, volunteers and firefighters waded through tangled procedures before mounting a rescue. News cameras and bystanders spread out on both sides of the creek to watch.

Then, as a rolled-up net was brought to the bank to begin the rescue, the dolphins disappeared. They surfaced moments later far down the creek on their way back to Boca Ciega Bay.

They had saved themselves.

The drama began about 8 a.m. when a worker with Pinellas County's Project Inspector spotted the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Project Inspector is an approximately $2-million program to dredge Joe's Creek.

The dolphins had apparently chased food up the creek during the night, probably at high tide, and slipped under the boom of the dredging machine. As the tide went out, the two became stranded between the boom and a yellow float between two bridges at 46th Avenue N and 71st Street.

The worker summoned the county's environmental management department, which, in turn, called other agencies. Eventually, representatives from the county, the Florida Aquarium, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the Lealman Fire Department arrived on the scene.

Biologists from the Clearwater aquarium have a license to catch dolphins issued by the National Marine Fisheries, but they must get permission from the fisheries to act on the license.

After watching the dolphins to make sure they were not stressed or in danger, the decision was made to wait until high tide about 3 p.m. to see if they would leave on their own.

At first, the dolphins played. Then, they settled down and floated side by side, occasionally bobbing to the surface to blow out air with a whoosh before sinking underneath the water again.

As the day wore on, news reporters arrived. Then neighbors and other gawkers came after they heard about the dolphins from television and news Web sites.

Ellen Campbell, who lives next to Joe's Creek, came home from a doctor's appointment to find her yard full of cameras, firefighters and spectators.

"I thought, 'Boy, I'm not going to be able to get in my driveway,' " Campbell said.

Her next thought was that a manatee had gotten into the creek, as happened a few years ago.

Campbell settled down for a while to watch but soon went inside to escape the muggy heat and burning sun.

As 3 p.m. passed and the dolphins continued to bob, biologists gave instructions on the proper handling of the net that was supposed to guide the dolphins to the southern bank where two teams would catch them, put them on a stretcher and carry them to a nearby mobile unit. Once there, the vet would decide whether they could be released or would go for rehab.

If they went to rehab, they would have gotten not only care, but names. Whatever agency got custody would get naming rights. Until then, they would only be known by numbers - CMA0709A and CMA0709B.

They clearly needed neither care nor names. When the net was dropped on the creek bank, would-be rescuers began asking, "Where are they?"

Then someone pointed west, where the two dolphins briefly surfaced on their way to the bay.

Anne Lindberg can be reached at alindberg@sptimes.com or 727 893-8450.

[Last modified August 16, 2007, 23:47:14]