Though these two dolphins are safe, countless others remain in grave danger. Until the government of Nicaragua outlaws dolphin captures, more animals will suffer as Bluefield and Nica did before they were rescued. And next time, the story might not have such a happy ending. Send your emails to Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños TODAY. Thank him for his administration's compassion and leadership in helping to rescue Bluefield and Nica and urge him to prevent such cases in the future by passing legislation to prohibit the capture of dolphins. The Honorable Enrique Bolaños President Republic of Nicaragua Presidente@presidencia.gob.ni

With a boatload of WSPA staff and Nicaraguan soldiers cheering them on, two rescued dolphins nicknamed Bluefield and Nica, swam into the wide open sea on August 23rd, after a mere 16 days in rehabilitation. Though a wild ocean storm raged all around them, the two dolphins leapt playfully among the waves before eventually swimming off to find their family pod, which waited nearby.

Captured in the wild only three months earlier, their future had once looked considerably more bleak.

"When we found them, they were sick, covered with sores and reeking with illness after living for months in freshwater," reports Gerardo Huertas, WSPA's director for Latin America.

Their captor, a young man in his early 20s, had little experience with dolphins. His original intent had been to train them for a swim-with-the-dolphins program that billed itself as therapy for children with Down syndrome. The completely inadequate holding pen, poor diet and lack of water filtration nearly killed the dolphins before they could ever be trained.

Bluefield and Nica expressed their joy while exploring the natural environment and clean water of their recovery pen. Photos: Helene O'Barry/WSPA

When WSPA's team was called in to assess the dolphins they immediately saw that they were losing weight at an alarming rate and had bleeding, painful gums that impaired their ability to eat.

As soon as WSPA reported their findings to Nicaragua's Ministry of the Environment, arrangements were made to confiscate the dolphins. During the first week of August, custody of the dolphins was officially turned over to WSPA.

In order to stabilize their health, the team flushed the filthy water from their pool and replaced it with clean water and 3,000 pounds of salt in order to mimic the salinity of seawater. An improved diet of fresh fish was supplemented with vitamins and electrolytes and a course of antibiotics.
After several tense days, rescuers felt that Bluefield and Nica had stabilized enough to be moved into a sea pen to continue their rehabilitation. The transport operation began before dawn on Wednesday, August 7th.

With help from the Nicaraguan army, both dolphins were rounded up in less than an hour and loaded onto a boat for the brief ride to a nearby naval base. From there, a massive military helicopter waited to chaffeur the dolphins to the rehab site on the coast of Nicaragua's Corn Island.

	Nicaragua's Minister of Environment, Ing. Jorge Salazar, (left) responded immediately when WSPA informed him the dolphns were in danger. Ric O'Barry, WSPA's former Marine Mammal Specialist, is on the right. Photo: Helene O'Barry/WSPA

"Bluefields is a big animal - several hundred pounds - and he fidgeted through the entire operation. So you can imagine the time we had trying to carry him in a stretcher down to the boat," said Huertas, who led the operation.

Once at the sea pen, WSPA's Marine Mammal Specialist Ric O'Barry began their rehabilitation.*

(*Ric O'Barry joined WSPA member society One Voice as its Marine Mammal Specialist in 2004. )

"Because they had been in captivity a relatively short time, they still remembered how to hunt fish and use their sonar," says O'Barry. "Also, they were captured as adults, so they had years of experience in living in the wild. Mainly, we just needed to give them the proper habitat, and they healed beautifully."

A few short weeks later, the dolphins were deemed to be in good health and arrangements were made to take the them out to the area where they had originally been captured. They were loaded aboard a Nicaraguan coast guard vessel by WSPA staff with assistance from a dozen Nicaraguan soldiers. Minister of the Environment Jorge Salazar and his staff were also on hand.

With stormy skies overhead, the team released Bluefield and Nica into their home waters, where they quickly swam off to find their family.

WSPA rescuers free Bluefield and Nica from the small, filthy tank and transport them to a natural seawater pen to complete their recovery. Photo: Curtis Photography/WSPA

WSPA is currently urging the Nicaraguan government to pass legislation that would prohibit the capture of wild dolphins.

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