A Dolphin Tale

By Nova Deitering on December 9th, 2020

HOPE. A strong word, a word of power and strength. Yet we often find ourselves lost in an endless time warp. A place where there is no hope, where we say “Why hope when we have nothing to hope for? Why hope for the fires to stop? Why hope for a vaccination? Why hope for no hunger, because we all know that will never be a thing?” So my answer to that is simply that hope will always come, it just may take time. After all, hope is a powerful thing, a thing of strength, but yet weakness. If we never believe such things will happen, we will never find out if they actually could. There are people doing good in this world, always hoping even when it may not pull through. Yet my point is, they still HOPE. So here is a story about just these people. Just fifteen years ago, I highly doubt they would ever think they would be at this point, because it involves many people, time and effort, a fisherman and a dolphin. It all happened 15 years and 1 day ago. A dolphin set out on a journey, where all they could do was hope. So here's how it goes... it is Dec. 10, 2005 and the Clearwater Marine Rescue team has received a call that a dolphin is tangled in a crab trap. Thanks to a fisherman, he found the little dolphin alone at around 2 to 3 months with no mom in Mosquito Lagoon, part of the Indian river lagoon system in Florida. Once the Marine team arrived, they found the 2.5 month old bottle-nose dolphin. She was very dehydrated and the team quickly attempted to untangle her and load her in the truck back to Clearwater Marine hospital. The team named her Winter, after she was found in the season of winter. Upon arrival, the team found that Winter's tail was dying. The marine vet recommended amputating it because this decision was best for Winter. Winter's future was grim after her tail was amputated, however day by day she started improving. “Initially we were unsure how we could teach a dolphin to swim without flukes,” said the Marine team. However Winter figured it out and started to swim side to side, not up and down. Even so, Winter and the Marine team ran into yet another roadblock. You see, dolphins are made to have their tail moving vertically. Since Winter did not have a tail, she figured out a way to swim by moving her body horizontally. This was causing scoliosis, where muscles are over developed. While the Marine team could not prevent this, they found a different option. A prosthetic tail! Once the Hanger Prosthetic company heard about Winter, they made it their goal to build a tail for Winter. “We have made several tails for Winter, each one an improvement on the last. New tails are necessary because she is constantly growing, new technology is developed and new designs provide greater functionality. The prosthetic tail is only part of her physical therapy program. Just like physical therapy for people, she has a whole series of different stretches and exercises that work her dorsal and venture muscles,” says the Marine staff at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Yet we then think back, and think that if the Marine team had just given up on her and had no hope, there would probably not be a ‘Winter’. For it shows that hope is sometimes all we have, so why not hold on to it? For hope is a powerful thing.