Frank Jakob of Salvo was fishing on the beach in the tri-villages about mid-afternoon on Thanksgiving Day when he came across a group of beachgoers trying to help a stranded dolphin back into the water.

Jakob called Dare County Communications, which said it would notify the National Park Service and the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, and then he grabbed his camera to film the effort to save the dolphin.

Jakob said he didn’t know any of the rescuers, but they were apparently fishermen, surfers, and strollers. 

When Jakob came across the rescue, the dolphin and the rescuers were just south of the Hatteras Island Fishing Pier in Rodanthe.

It was a bright and sunny day, but it was very windy – with gusts from the north keeping the tide running quickly down the beach.

The rescuers worked with the dolphin for about 30 minutes, and during that time they and the mammal moved steadily down the beach – almost two miles south to near the Salvo wreck.

Quite a crowd of onlookers had gathered to watch as several men struggled to move the dolphin toward deeper water.

After about a half hour, they were apparently successful.  The dolphin disappeared into a slough just past the breaking waves, and everyone stood and watched to see what would happen next.

“We never saw the dolphin again,” Jakob reports and he and the others assume it successfully made its way back into the ocean.

Jakob said when he left the beach neither the Park Service nor the Marine Mammal stranding folks had arrived.

However, it was a happy ending on Thanksgiving Day for those who came to the animal’s rescue.