Vanuatu

Overview

On New Year's Eve 1995 Sea World experts were flown to Port Vila where a pod of spinner dolphins had swum into a lagoon, but were unable to navigate their way out due to a maze of coral reefs separating them from open waters.

Without food in the lagoon, the dolphins began showing signs of dehydration and distress. While 32 dolphins were eventually rescued, four died before the operation was finally successful.

With carefully selected volunteers, the dolphins were picked up from the water and walked across a narrow spit of sand to the open ocean. All the dolphins were moved together so they could maintain eye contact with each other and, once placed safely on the other side, were released together to minimise any further stress on the animals.