Dolphin Tales and Winter, the Dolphin With the Prosthetic Tail

Have you heard about the movie Dolphin Tales yet?  It’s about a dolphin who swims with a prosthetic tail, demonstrating courage and perseverance by the dolphin, Winter, and those who care for her.

Well, Winter is a real dolphin, currently being taken care of at the Clearwater Aquarium in Florida.  And she’s about to put Flipper’s fame to shame.  When the Warner Brothers movie about her story is released later this month, you can bet people around the world will fall in love.

Winter has an amazing story to share.  She was found tangled up in the rope of a crab trap.  She had struggled so much to get her tail free that she ironically ended up caught tighter in the rope, even getting her mouth caught, too, leaving her gasping for breath.  A fisherman found her and helped cut her free, but she was too tired to leave the lagoon where she was located, so that fisherman called in help.  Winter was taken to the Clearwater Aquarium where rescue crews worked hard to get her back to good health.  Unfortunately, some of the pieces of her tail started to fall off, ultimately leaving her with a stump where her tail was.  The people caring for her knew she needed to be able to swim again and a local company that specialized in prosthetics came to the rescue.

I got to meet Winter this summer, along with my daughter and husband.  We even got to touch her prosthetic tail, as you’ll see in this video.

This is the promo clip for the movie coming out at the end of this month.  You’ll see, it features Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr, and Kris Kristofferson among others.

Want to meet Winter, too?  A great place to stay while you’re in the area is the Tradewinds Resort in St. Petersburg Beach.  Check out this video of the sunset from when I visited with my husband and child.