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A pair of dolphins that may have been stranded in a Florida lagoon since Hurricane Milton struck the state in October were released to safety after a massive rescue effort.
The animals had been stuck in a shallow water lagoon deep in the mangroves near Matlacha, an area near the southwestern Cape Coral and Fort Myers.
Navigating through the mangrove canals and mud flats on Tuesday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit and biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found the marine mammals.
Witnesses had reported seeing the dolphins on Monday, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.
The lagoon was only between two and three feet deep at high tide and there was also only two feet of water or less in the trails leading to opening water, preventing the dolphins from escaping.
“Biologists believe the dolphins could have been stranded since at least a very high tide in mid-November, or even as far back when water levels rose during Hurricane Milton in October,” the sheriff’s office said.
Moving the two nine-foot-long adult dolphins was no easy feat. They needed help.
With assistance from the Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, the Brookfield Zoo Chicago-Sarasota, Dolphin Research Program, and Clearwater Aquarium, they placed the dolphins on float mats and pulled them over 300 yards of mud and muck.
Then, they were towed to deeper waters.
After outfitting the dolphins with satellite tags and evaluating their health, they were released back into deeper water in the Matlacha Pass.
“The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is always willing to help out our great residents … on land and sea,” the sheriff’s office said.
For months after the Category 3 hurricane struck near Siesta Key last October, flooding has plagued the state, bringing wild animals closer to the human communities they live around.
Other animals have been displaced by the storm, as well.
Manatees were also stranded after Hurricane Helene hit in September. One manatee was found in a small pond nearly a mile and a half away from open water.
