CLEARWATER, Fla. — Editor's note: Video above is from a previous story.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium is back at it again with extending help to sea animals to get them back to a healthy state.
Known for being one of three dolphin rehabilitation facilities in Florida, multiple water friends have left the aquarium's facility ready to be released back to their homes.
Wanting to continue with the help, Clearwater Marine Aquarium announced Thursday that starting in early summer it will be treating dolphin patients in need of life-saving care.
The rehabilitation will take place at the Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Facility, which is located inside of Fred Howard Park on the coast of Tarpon Springs, a news release explains.
Pinellas County and the city provided land for the aquarium to successfully do this.
Ever heard of this location? It's used for specific things like rehabilitation and short-term care of stranded marine animals, focusing on small whales and dolphins initially.
Adding on to the load at the facility, CMA plans to also open three manatee rehabilitation pools in the next six to eight months.
"This location provides CMA’s Rescue Team an offsite rehabilitation facility to bring rescued marine animals for care without impacting the resident animals and regular operations at Clearwater Marine Aquarium," aquarium leaders explain in the news release.
The secluded site allows for fewer people and less noise for the rescued animals before they are returned to the wild.
Here are a few fun facts about the rehabilitation pool:
- Fans of Winter the Dolphin can catch this pool in multiple scenes of the original "Dolphin Tale" movie.
- Hope, CMA resident dolphin and the star of "Dolphin Tale 2," was rehabilitated in this pool that was specifically created for the movie. The pool was located at CMA and later moved to Fred Howard Park.
- During the 2019 stranding event of five pilot whales just south of CMA, several pilot whales recovered in the pool before being released back into the wild.
Check out the video of the pilot whales' rehabilitation in 2019 from the aquarium below:
