Winter's tale

Winter's smiling face.



Winter seems to love scratching her belly on the float.


Winter getting a check up.

Winter's prosthetic flipper sitting on the table. This is a newer model she was getting.

I recently stopped by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I hadn't been there in several years and the weather was threatening to rain so I headed indoors to see the dolphins and turtles. Winter was found in 2005 by a fisherman near Cape Canaveral. She was tangled up in a buoy line and it was cutting of the blood supply to her tail. When she was rescued they had to amputate her flipper. She was able to adapt without it but in the long term it would do damage to her spine so a team of scientist came up with a prosthetic tail for her to be able to swim properly. It's amazing what people can come up with. Winter seems to be doing well. There are currently 3 other dolphins there for Winter to play with that all have permanent injuries. The aquarium was busy rehabilitating over 70 turtles that had been stranded from cold stress during the cold spell.

Winter's webcam - http://www.seewinter.com/get-involved/media/webcams/winters-webcam