The hurricanes that slammed in Florida this fall ravaged the state.
Residents are still discovering things left behind by the storms.
And Florida sheriffs were stunned after they made one scary discovery in a lagoon.
Hurricane stranded dolphins in a shallow lagoon
Hurricane Milton created a storm surge up and down the Gulf Coast of Florida that brought seawater rushing inland.
A pair of dolphins were found in a shallow lagoon in Matlacha, Florida more than 2 months after the hurricane made landfall.
Matlacha is located near Cape Coral on the Gulf Coast.
Officials suspect that the dolphins were carried in by the storm surge and stranded in the lagoon.
“The dolphins are extremely intelligent. And in this scenario, it’s. If I had to guess, you know, during Hurricane Milton, we had high winds storm surge as well. And they were probably pushed into an area,” marine biologist Evan Bogdon said.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said that the lagoon was only two feet or three feet deep at high tide and the dolphins did not have any way to swim back to open water.
An initial rescue attempt for the dolphins failed because the sheriff’s office and Florida Fish and Wildlife officials did not have enough manpower.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit, Brookfield Zoo Chicago-Sarasota, Dolphin Research Program, and Clearwater Aquarium worked together to rescue the dolphins.
Rescue workers placed the dolphins on floating mats so they could be transported back to open water.
“With all hands on deck, Lee County Marine Unit deputies jumped in to help. Both dolphins were placed on floating mats and pulled through over 300 yards of mud and muck, and then towed by boat to deeper waters,” the Lee County Sheriff’s Office stated.
WATCH: Dolphins rescued near Matlacha after being stranded in shallow waters https://t.co/8b7hfColxd pic.twitter.com/ExZrhAWizF
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) December 12, 2024
The dolphins were released into the waters of the Matlacha Pass that led back to the Gulf of Mexico.
“The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is always willing to help out our great residents … on land and sea,” the sheriff’s office stated.
Hurricanes stranded animals in the interior of Florida
The storm surge and high winds from Hurricanes Helene and Milton carried animals away from their habitats and left them in dire straits.
A manatee was found stranded in a small pond near where Helene made landfall on the Gulf Coast.
Cormorants, a sea bird, were found buried in the sand and sea grass after Hurricane Milton.
A two-year-old boy and a four-year-old boy found them by chance on a beach near Indian Rocks Beach, Florida.
Birds in Helping Hands director Shelley Vickery said that it was unusual for birds to get caught in storm surge.
“It was the first time we’ve ever seen that,” Vickery said.
The birds were barely hanging on when the boys discovered them.
“One had legs that were atrophied, so they kind of fell asleep. He couldn’t even stand,” Vickery explained. “They had this will to live out there two days not being able to move, so we really were excited to help them and then kind of brokenhearted that they were out there for two days.”
The birds were taken to a rescue facility in Florida to rehabilitate them.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
