Young strayed calf rescued and reunited with pod

A stray five-day-old dolphin was rescued from the surf at Cape St Francis and reunited with its pod by the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) on Wednesday night.

Only 60cm-long the youngster was spotted in the surf at Cape St Francis main beach at 6pm and taken on board an NSRI rescue craft, spokesman Craig Lambinon said. "We... located the pod off-shore at the Cape St Francis lighthouse and set the little dolphin free. "It swam away strongly and we can only hope that it reunites with its family".

It would not have been able to survive alone and could not be hand-raised at that age, said Lambinon.