June 19, 2009We went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium today and met Winter. She was rescued at just three months of age when she got trapped in a crab trap line and lost her tail and two vertebrae. Winter was taken to the CMA, which is mostly a rehabilitation aquarium and not the big fancy ones you're probably thinking of, where they fitted her with a prosthetic flipper and are teaching her how to swim like an actual dolphin! Amazing!!! Winter wasn't the only amazing creature there either. The CMA is also home to several turtles who have been injured too seriously to be returned to the wild. Some are blind, others are missing their flippers from injuries with boaters, and another turtle was dropped on her shell by a fisherman and paralyzed. It was sad to see them trying to swim because they either ran into everything, couldn't submerge, or would simply float to the top because of their injuries. It really made me stop and think how we sometimes do a fantastic job of trashing our beautiful planet and its creatures. The CMA was a a great break from the heat, crowds, and it sure got you a lot closer to dolphins than the $25 dolphin encounter tour we took.
2 comments:
So sad! But also amazing that people are willing to rehab those creatures. That is amazing!
The dolphin encounter was so lame. Nice boat ride though!
Post a Comment