Dolphin, an unexpected attraction

An unlikely visitor to the Pawcatuck River drew quite a crowd Thursday.

"Lived here for a while and never saw this before," said one woman.

All eyes were on a five-foot dolphin that took a leisurely swim along the Westerly-Pawcatuck line.
"I got my camera out, and I came down with the baby and tried to get a look at it," Michelle Lussier, of Hopkinton, said.

The dolphin really started to cause a public spectacle Thursday morning when it swam near a downtown bridge.

At the Somerset Tea House, the dolphin was almost too much of a pre-occupation.
"We were down watching the dolphin instead of making soup. So, today we don't have soup," Karen Hayden said.

Scientists from Mystic Aquarium have seen the dolphin. They said it appears happy and healthy, and it probably just followed some fish upstream.

"It was remarkable, really. I don't know what the dolphin's doing in the river," Rena Debortoli, of Westerly, said.

The experts at Mystic think the Atlantic white dolphin will swim out on its own in a few days. If not, they'll re-evaluate.

For now, it's the star attraction. But scientists urged spectators not to feed the dolphin or try to swim with it.