Dolphin rescued

U.S. Navy photograph above shows, Kelly, an Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin displaced when hurricane Katrina destroyed her home at the Marine Life Oceanarium" in Gulfport, Miss., being carefully placed in a temporary saltwater pool facility at the Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport. The above ground pool, along with other necessary filtration equipment needed to care for sea mammals, was provided by U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program personnel from San Diego, Calif.

Kelly had spent the last two and a half weeks in the Gulf of Mexico with seven other dolphins, swept out to sea by a wave reported to be forty feet high during Hurricane Katrina. Because these dolphins are from a captive facility, they do not forage for food or necessarily have the survival skills needed to avoid predators or boat traffic. Since they were spotted off the gulf coast on Saturday, Sept. 10, Marine Life Aquarium trainers and National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service biologists have been feeding the dolphins several times a day from a NOAA vessel.