No filter: Three brave city women rescue dolphin washed ashore

 While we are all practising social distancing for the greater good and help stop the spread of COVID-19, here is a story of a few ordinary women who had an extraordinary night right here in Chennai.

A few weeks ago, Meera Suresh a resident of Palavakkam, a model and a makeup artist was out for a walk on a full moon night at around 9 pm. She had just bid bye to her friends when she spotted something in the distance, washed up on the beach. A crowd was slowly starting to gather and she could see people clicking photographs. She decided to take a closer look. She was a little hesitant as she thought it might be dead. “I could feel the tail moving every time a wave came in, but under the moonlight, it appeared to be a big shark. I was understandably scared to go near it or help. Also, the shark was more than my height (almost 6 feet long) and weighed a lot more than me — possibly 10 times as much. As soon as I figured it was alive, panic set in, because I wasn’t aware of what to do. I wondered if I should call the local fishermen, but was also concerned that they might just let it die and sell it. I was very keen to save the shark, even though I wasn’t sure of how to,” she recollects.

As she started looking up online on what to do, an image search revealed that it might be a humpback dolphin. Out of the few people who were gathered around this poor dolphin washed ashore, there were some who were better swimmers and had more experience dealing with sea creatures, but all they wanted to do was take pictures, she recalls. Meera, a skinny young girl, totally unprepared for a scenario like this had her heart in the right place because she didn’t want to wake up to the news of a dead dolphin.

She quickly called her friends Reshma and Clio, who were having dinner nearby. As the two women rushed to the spot, Meera tried to push the dolphin out with a wave. She had succeeded, but it was washed back a few feet further away. It was a full moon night with strong currents. Meera adds, “When I read up later, I learned that dolphins’ echolocation doesn’t work well unless they are swimming at a particular depth in water. As time was passing, the waves were slowly starting to recede and the concern was mounting for the safety of this dolphin. We decided to make a concerted effort when the next wave reached the dolphin. Clio then held onto the dolphin and swam out with it until he was confident enough to swim away. I’m so glad we had Clio, a strong and confident swimmer, with us, while Reshma and I waded into the water and gave the dolphin a big push.”

As they got back to the shore, they saw the dolphin jump in the moonlight. “That was all the reward we ever needed. This experience moved us so much that Clio had tears in her eyes without realising,” Meera says. Chennai thanks these three women for stepping up when the local fauna needed their help. Two days later, she read in the newspapers that two more dolphins had washed ashore and wants people to know that the mammals exist in the city’s waters.

It is possible to help these poor creatures if ever they get stranded ashore. I may have watched one too many animated movies, but I’m waiting for Meera and Clio to tell me a few weeks later that while taking a swim, the very dolphin came back to say hello!