An incredible video from San Antonio Este, Argentina, captures the moment an elderly man single-handedly saves two stranded dolphins using nothing but a rope. Walter Andreoli, the rescuer, believes the dolphins—likely Pacific white-sided dolphins—may have beached themselves while fleeing from a pod of orcas.
Dolphins can survive out of water for several hours as long as they stay wet and cool, but if these dolphins had been stranded for a day, time was running out.
“In a second, I sensed what happened because the day before, orcas had been seen in the area,” Andreoli told Pagina12. “Since they eat them, I imagined that these little dolphins fled and, disoriented, were left stranded.”
While orcas and dolphins are closely related, dolphins are a common part of a killer whale’s diet.
A One-Man Rescue Operation
Andreoli found the dolphins in a remote area where no one was around to help—except for someone nearby who managed to capture the rescue on camera. Though Pacific white-sided dolphins are smaller than some other species, they can still grow up to 8 feet long and weigh between 300 and 400 pounds, making the task of moving them anything but easy.
“In the place where we found them, there was no way to call the wildlife watch, we had no phone signal, and their lives were in danger,” Andreoli told Storyful. “The ATV had a rope, so I towed them to the water and waited. I waited for the tide to come in, and then I saw them leave on their own.”
A simple rope and sheer determination were all it took to give these dolphins a second chance at life.