On Marco Island, Florida a group of dolphins came to the aid of a
lost Doberman that had fallen into a canal and couldn’t get out. The
dolphins made so much noise, it attracted the attention of people living
nearby, who then rescued the dog. The Doberman was believed to have
spent 15 hours in the canal water before he was pulled out by fire
personnel and reunited with his owner.
One of the people whose attention was captured by the noisy,
demonstrative dolphins said, “They were really putting up a ruckus,
almost beaching themselves on the sandbar over there. If it wasn’t for
the dolphin, I would have never seen the dog.” (Source: ABC7news) He
said also if the dolphins hadn’t persisted enough to get their
attention, they dog would have died in the canal. The dog had fallen
over the edge of a concrete wall down into the water far enough that it
had no chance of getting back up by itself. The dog was exhausted from
being in the cold water for hours, and most likely suffering from
hypothermia.
Dolphins have been known to sometimes help stranded or injured people
as well. In 2007, a pod of dolphins formed a ring around a surfer who
was injured and bleeding after being bitten by a Great White shark. The
surfer survived because they prevented further bites. No one knows
exactly why dolphins have intervened in such emergency situations, and
helped save the lives of other species. Suffice to say they are capable
of empathy and heroic actions.
