The new, hit movie “Dolphin Tale,” brought much-deserved attention this weekend to extraordinary wildlife rescue efforts done at marine mammal facilities around the world. The SeaWorld Rescue Team – which also helped with the initial rescue transport of the film’s star Winter – uses its expertise and creativity every day to devise new ways to rescue, treat and return to nature these extraordinary animals. No rescue, no case is ever the same. Examples of this ingenuity at work include:
SeaWorld Rescues Newborn Dolphin
This past Sunday, SeaWorld's animal rescue team traveled to Three Sisters Island, in Volusia County, Fla. to rescue a stranded newborn dolphin calf.

Dolphin rescue in southwest Florida - Fishing line puts dolphin in danger
On March 9th, a team of marine animal rescue experts --from SeaWorld Orlando, NOAA Fisheries Services, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Chicago Zoological Society, Mote Marine Lab, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and University of Florida – worked together to free a dolphin that had been tangled in fishing line in the Ten Thousand Islands area, a chain of islands off the coast of southwest Florida between Cape Romano and Marco Island.
Stranded Melon-headed Whale Being Cared For by SeaWorld Orlando
Earlier this afternoon, an animal rescue team from SeaWorld (R) Orlando, working with experts from Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., transported a juvenile melon-headed whale from Mote Marine Laboratory’s Dolphin and Whale Hospital to SeaWorld’s Cetacean Rehabilitation Facility where it will receive long-term care.
Seaside Salvation
The southern California coastline is home to an abundance of amazing sea life. The fertile waters in Ventura County are host to 26 types of whales, dolphins and porpoises and six species of seals and sea lions. Yet, until recently, there was no rescue and rehabilitation facility in the area devoted to these charismatic creatures of the deep.
SeaWorld Orlando Continues Hands-On, Physical Therapy of Once-Stranded Pilot Whale
Three times each day, a team of animal experts at SeaWorld Orlando perform hands-on, physical therapy on a once-stranded pilot whale. "300" has scoliosis, or a curvature of the spine.

SeaWorld San Diego Welcomes Dolphin Calf
SeaWorld San Diego welcomes a new addition to our marine mammal family: an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin calf!

What It's Like: Returning Sea Turtles to the Wild
Recently, SeaWorld Orlando's animal rescue team returned three sea turtles to the waters off Florida's east coast. Each of the turtles had been cared for by the park's animal experts.
For a unique point-of-view, the team used GoPro video cameras and we think the look is pretty amazing. It's what it's like to help return now-healthy sea turtles to the wild.


