Winter dolphin series#
Winter dolphin tv#

Winter’s story was picked up by the news wires. Yates and CMA dolphin handlers appeared on national TV. Over time, these came to include prosthetist Kevin Carroll’s introduction of a plastic-and-rubber tail that fit snugly over the dolphin’s tale stump.

Winter dolphin series#

He chronicled her rehabilitation by CMA veterinarians and staff in a series of video mini-documentaries. I thought ‘I’ve got the same story here that I had 10 years ago – I’m going to pitch this the same way.’” “It’s about courage, perseverance, never giving up. “The Ironman brand is very like the Winter brand,” he explained.

Winter dolphin tv#

And by the fall, Yates, who had run the Ironman Triathlon organization for 11 years and had produced numerous TV specials (winning three Sports Emmys in the process), saw a marketing opportunity. Indeed, the survival rate for stranded baby dolphins was low – if a marine mammal has beached, that’s almost always a sign of impending death. “The whole industry said, she won’t survive,” Yates recalled. When David Yates signed on as the facility’s CEO in early 2006, he was brought over to the main rehab tank where Winter, barely four months old, was struggling to swim with a rotting tail, and was barely eating. The Clearwater Marine Aquarium, ramshackle no more, is a global tourist destination. The benefits are still being felt, even after Winter’s tragic death from an intestinal ailment last November. Six years later, after the worldwide release of the family film Dolphin Tale, CMA was welcoming 800,000 visitors per year. Before her arrival in December 2005, attendance at the somewhat ramshackle rescue and rehab center was around 76,000 annually. Winter was saved by a dedicated team of marine biologists, scientists and volunteers.Īnd the Clearwater Marine Aquarium was itself saved by Winter. After she lost her tail flukes from entanglement in a crab trap line, the animal was fitted with a custom-made prosthesis, and trained to swim with it.

The story of Winter, the young bottlenose dolphin rescued on the east coast of Florida and brought back to life at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, resonated around the world.