#MarineWildlife - A dolphin from the Irish Sea that became stranded on sandbanks in the River Dee in North Wales was safely transported back to deeper waters aboard Flint’s inshore RNLI lifeboat.
RNLI volunteers from Flint were called to Airbus UK’s loading facility, just downstream from Saltney Ferry, at around 11.30am on Thursday morning (22 August) to attend to the dolphin that was in difficulty in the shallows of the river estuary.
RNLI lifeboat operations manager Alan Forrester confirmed that the crew put the dolphin inside a stretcher for transfer to the lifeboat, and that a representative from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue was on board to monitor the cetacean's condition.
"The dolphin is a fair size, so we’ll go at a very slow pace until we reach deeper waters, where we will be met by the Rhyl all-weather RNLI lifeboat," said Forrester during the mission.
The dolphin, originally named 'Dave', has since been renamed 'Davina' after she was identified as being female.
Davina was released around the North Rhyl Flats as if she were set free in any shallow waters it's feared she would become stranded again.