Winter's Tale: A Florida dolphin's inspirational story

A Star Is Born

If you’ve seen the 2011 movie Dolphin Tale, you know how inspirational the story is. Do you also know the story is based on a real life dolphin at a real life Florida aquarium? The movie stars some big names including Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson, and Morgan Freeman. Here’s a quick recap:

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is home to dolphins who cannot live on their own in the wild. Photo by Carrie Dow.

A troubled boy walking along the beach comes across a fisherman rescuing a dolphin caught in a crab trap. The dolphin is taken to Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) for help. The boy follows along and ends up spending his summer at the aquarium assisting to care for the dolphin, named Winter, where he forms a bond with her and the staff. Because of significant damage, Winter’s tale is surgically removed and she has to learn to swim without, which she does, but that causes complications to her spine. When the boy’s cousin returns from a tour of duty in the army with his leg amputated, the boy asks his cousin’s doctor if a prosthetic limb could also be made for Winter. The doctor accepts the challenge and after several attempts, the doctor, aquarium staff, and the boy are able to fit a new tail on Winter. Despite this success, the aquarium has financial troubles so the boy comes up with Save Winter Day to promote Winter’s story and the aquarium’s work. With news coverage of Winter’s “Tale” people like the boy’s veteran cousin and others with missing limbs come to visit and support the aquarium. A real estate developer who originally wanted to buy the aquarium’s land has a change of heart and instead helps to keep the aquarium open. Adn they all lived happily ever after.

I enjoyed this movie when it was released and was thrilled to meet the movie’s star at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Clearwater, Florida, last October. While there I learned about the incredible work CMA does and that they have several permanent residents besides Winter. Before we meet them, I will dispel a few “tall tales” from the movie. My tour guide and the aquarium’s Director of Marketing Relations Kelsie Long tells me that like many movies based on real life, some dramatic license was taken.

First, Winter was actually rescued in Mosquito Lagoon near Cape Canaveral, which is on the Atlantic side of Florida. She was taken to a local marine rescue center and then transferred to Clearwater. Second, Winter’s tail was not surgically amputated. Her tail had been wrapped by a rope in the crab trap cutting off the blood supply. That portion then necrotized and fell off with just a small portion removed surgically. Also, the process for developing Winter’s prosthetic tail happened over the course of several months, not a few weeks, as the movie portrays. Something else Long emphasized is that the organization did not have a billionaire benefactor.

“If you’ve seen the movie, in the end the billionaire comes and saves us. Well, the billionaire is our many visitors that come and support us,” Long notes laughing.

The mission of Clearwater Marine Aquarium is to rescue, rehabilitate, and return Florida’s injured and sick marine creatures back to the wild. There is a hospital and recovery center with marine veterinarians and staff along with an army of volunteers that rescue animals such as sea turtles, sharks, sting rays, dolphins, and even otters and pelicans. The center is also home to diverse marine life like eels and tarpons that were kept as pets, but outgrew their habitats and given up by their owners.

The aquarium was founded by two marine veterinarians in 1972 and called Clearwater Marine Hospital. In 1979 the vets took over the City of Clearwater’s old water treatment plant for only $1 and renamed Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

The aquarium’s hospital and medical care units are right at the entrance and all have large windows so visitors can see what is happening inside. Note that tapping on the glass anywhere in the aquarium is not allowed. No animals received care during my visit, but Long says they had a turtle in the week prior that had a fish hook removed from its stomach, a regular occurrence in Gulf Coast waters.

Visitors can walk throughout the facility on guided tours or on their own. Photo by Carrie Dow.

While I was on a guided tour, the public is welcome to tour the medical areas on their own and has plenty of signage explaining what goes on where. Long also notes that staff and volunteers are always around so someone visiting without a guide can ask questions to learn more.

“All of our volunteers are very knowledgeable and staff are helpful,” she adds.

Long then explains that when an animal comes into the aquarium, they are taken into the medical area for examination. Staff members take their weight, age, and measurements. If necessary, x-rays are taken. From here veterinarians can determine the best course of action. Sometimes that means surgery, which can be done onsite. Sometimes animals are sick, malnourished, or orphaned. Long estimates they treat over 200 animals a year.

The aquarium receives calls about injured animals from all kinds of people and places.

“We’ll get calls from the public and park rangers,” she says. “We actually do first responder training with Clearwater police and firefighters so if they see an animal in trouble, they know what to do. We are on call 24/7. We get calls to our stranding line and volunteers will go out.” That number is listed on the website for the public: 727-441-1790 Ext. 1. The public can also call local agencies, 411, or 911 if they see an animal in distress. Next to the medical unit is the food prep kitchen.

“Everything is restaurant quality from the lettuce to the fish,” says Long. “They spot clean three times a day. All of our resident animals have specific diets. On these boards (pointing to a white board on the wall) you can see what they’re eating and how much. If they’re not getting enough hydration, we’ll switch up what their food is. We use all these boards to track that. We also monitor how much food they’re taking in. Turtles love squid; the pelicans love herring. It’s very similar to what they eat in the wild.” Next to the kitchen is the Intensive Care Unit.

Live release rates for 2018 and 2019. Photo by Carrie Dow.

“This is our quarantine,” notes Long. “If they have some sort of disease, we don’t want to pass that to our resident animals. This is actually a one-way window because the idea is to release them back into the wild so we don’t want them to relate humans with food. Their interaction with humans is as limited as possible.”

Sadly the most common ways animals end up at the aquarium are manmade – fish hooks, boat strikes, pollution. On this day they had one animal in quarantine, a sting ray named Waldo. He had a skin disease that is contagious to other sting rays. She then takes us past a few other tanks occupied with turtles being evaluated. In the hall is a board with their names and treatments.

Long says that when dolphins and turtles are released, they are monitored by tracking collars and there is a tracking board on the opposite wall. You can also visit the website to see which animals are being tracked and where they have been.

After this behind-the-scenes tour Long takes us to see the aquarium’s permanent residents. First is Nicolas a dolphin who lives in a covered outside pool on the aquarium’s terrace.

“Nick was stranded in 2002 with his mom,” she explained. “His mother had upper respiratory issues and so she stranded herself. He was a calf at the time and just doing whatever mom did. They ended up with third degree burns on their backs from being exposed to the sun. Unfortunately, mom died of pneumonia and because he was too young to learn all the necessary life skills from his mom like avoiding predators and finding food, he was deemed non-releasable. He’s very intelligent so a lot of the activities we do are a free decision for him. We’ll let him choose if he wants to do a jump or a dive. One of the enrichments he did yesterday was choosing between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals in the World Series.” He correctly chose the Nationals.

Pelicans have a home at CMA. Photo by Carrie Dow.

As we watch Nick swim around the large, 12-foot deep pool we can see the white marks on his back, which are scars from the sun burn. In this outside area there is a small seating area for daily dolphin seminars.

Back inside the main building the first area is the shark tank. The aquarium currently has two nurse sharks, Thelma and Louise.

“They came to us from a collector who had them as pets,” said Long. “Sharks aren’t like gold fish. They continued to grow to the size they are now and the collector ran out of space. We feed them four times a month and we’ll do a guest experience where guests can sit on a platform and feed them. We also have Tarpon in there.”

Above the shark tank Long points out their sustainable lettuce garden and fish farm tank. The waste the fish produce feed leafy plant greens, which are in turn fed to many residents.

Across from the shark tank is a turtle tank. The turtle tank features Bailey who can’t properly dive because of paralyzed back flippers from getting caught in a fishing net.

Home to Winter and Hope of Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2 and their new friend PJ. Photo by Carrie Dow.

The large tank in the center belongs to Winter and her friends, Hope and PJ. The three dolphins swim and dive around the tank. There are viewing areas both above and below the water so there are plenty of opportunities to see them swim and play. Long also says there is an entrance to a separate tank in the back that the public can’t see so when the dolphins need some quiet time, they can go into that tank and avoid people for a while. Long says they are free to choose which tank they want to be in.

As we walk around the tanks Long points out all the different movie props and posters on the walls of the aquarium. They also have a display of letters and photos from people from all over the world who were inspired by Winter’s story.

“A lot of the animals are inspiring to people,” said Long. “It’s another big part of our mission.”

A new dolphin Hope came to the aquarium a few years ago and has been Winter’s companion ever since.

“If you’ve seen Dolphin Tale 2,” she explains, “there’s a scene where they’re having the wrap party for the movie. We got the call for Hope while we were having that wrap party so some of the cast and crew got to see us rescuing Hope and that’s how Dolphin Tale 2 came to be.”

There is one local creature the aquarium currently can’t house: The Florida manatee. While they rescue stranded manatees throughout Florida, the current facility doesn’t have the space to keep any in rehab, but that will soon change. Clearwater Maine Aquarium is constructing a new, larger facility next door. Long says they don’t have an opening date just yet, but the new space will be over a million square feet, triple their current footprint.

A visit to Clearwater Marine Aquarium is fun anytime so don’t wait for the new facility to open to see Winter and her companions and the amazing difference Clearwater Marine Aquarium makes in the lives of Florida’s marine animals. It’s a chance to see a real movie star and how her amazing story influenced the world.

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To learn more about visiting Clearwater Marine Aquarium, visit the website seewinter.org where you will find information on pricing, parking, and operating hours as well a chance to purchase tickets, packages, and tours at a discount. The aquarium also offers boat excursions, educational classes, and close-up animal encounters.