On Boxing Day, a mother dolphin and her youngster were discovered trapped in the mudbanks of the River Severn in Newnham, Gloucestershire, and were rescued by onlookers.
Julie Price with the stranded dolphins near the River Severn (Image: Gloucestershire Live/BPM MEDIA)
A stranded dolphin and its calf were saved from certain death by walkers out for a Boxing Day stroll.
Couple Mark and Julie Price had been walking off their Christmas dinners when they spotted what they thought was a log in the mud flats of the River Severn .
As they got closer they realised it was a dolphin, with a little calf snuggled against her.
The pair were eventually joined by Mark Moodie, his daughter Poppy and Rebekah Hoyland who had seen them struggling in the mud.
The group were at first unable to move the large mammals before Mark whipped off his new coat – a Christmas present – and dragged them to the water’s edge, Gloucestershire Live reported.
The group first thought the dolphins were washed up logs in the mud ( Image: Gloucestershire Live/BPM MEDIA)
He said: “As I got closer reality hit. I walked around it to see a baby dolphin nestled into its mum and also stuck in the sandy, muddy river bed.
“Both were making noises and sounded really distressed.
“We dug their flippers out of the mud and started splashing water from the puddles over them.
“After freeing mum, we attempted to lift her…dolphins are heavier than they look.
“Looking at the water in the distance it was clear we couldn’t do this on our own.”
The group worked together to move the heavy mammals ( Image: Gloucestershire Live/BPM MEDIA)
Dejected at first, the group worked together to save the lives of the aquatic animals.
Mr Price, 54, added: “Mark looked at me and said someone is going to have to sacrifice their coat so we can drag it to the water. My new coat was off and on the ground in seconds.
“We rolled the mother dolphin on its side carefully ensuring its flippers were not bent back and tucked my coat under it. Mark, Julie and I lifted and pulled the dolphin forward.
“Mark and I then started manoeuvring the mother in to the water pulling and pushing six inches at a time. This seemed to take an age.
Mark Price and Mark Moodie watched the dolphins swim away ( Image: Gloucestershire Live/BPM MEDIA)
“We kept at it and as the water got little by little deeper she started to attempt to swim but toward us not the deeper water.
“So we stood in her way and nudged her over and over again away from us. Eventually she was in water deep enough to swim in and started to take control herself.
“Julie had carried baby and placed her in the water not far away from the mother.
“Mark had to take her in a little deeper as she was also struggling to swim as she was coming back toward mum.
“Mark and I were up to our knees in the water and as we saw baby swim we started to walk out of the water. Baby followed our splashes.
The story had a happy ending for the dolphins ( Image: Gloucestershire Live/BPM MEDIA)
The group were told to leave the area in case the tide came in ( Image: Gloucestershire Live/BPM MEDIA)
“The baby turned and swam towards mother. Overjoyed the four of us looked at each other and there were smiles of delight.
“We had saved two beached and distressed dolphins.”
During the rescue fire controllers suggested they leave the scene in case the tide came in.
Firefighters were waiting on the riverbank when they eventually arrived back cold and wet.
