More than 80 people in Betty’s Bay showed up to help a stranded dolphin back into the water on Sunday.
Western Cape, South Africa (17 August 2026) – Betty’s Bay resident and world-renowned zoologist, conservationist, and professional wildlife photographer Pete Oxford shared the rescue story online, praising the incredible show of community he had witnessed after being called out to help with the rescue of a stranded marine animal early on Sunday morning.
“I got a call early this morning that there was a beached baby ‘humpback whale’ on Silversands Beach.”
Except, it wasn’t a humpback whale. When Pete arrived, he was able to identify the stranded animal as the rare Risso’s dolphin.
“Risso’s are rare dolphins along our coastline, sometimes associating with the common dolphins but usually they are further offshore around the continental shelf. I have only ever seen them in small groups but they can, apparently, form very large pods.”
Pete says the dolphin was stranded on its side with its blowhole half submerged in water, making it difficult to breathe.
“Draining the pool helped. There was not much I could do alone until Ruan Van Zyl arrived on the scene.”
Ruan, who later turned out to be the ultimate hero in the story, arrived and together, they were able to shift the dolphin into a more suitable position, while they waited for help to arrive.
“It was active, raising its tail with somewhat frequent (stress) and deep breaths. Its eyes opened occasionally to take it all in. Ria Kotze was next on the scene and we waited a long while until the call out for help had been spread.”
The call was shared far and wide. Residents took to Facebook asking ‘as many people as possible’ to help get the dolphin back into the water. The exact location was shared, and within minutes, community members started to show up in droves.
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The tide had receded, and the water had already drawn a long way out from where the dolphin had initially stranded. This did not stop the incredible show of community spirit by helping in whatever means possible.
The only hope for the dolphin’s survival was to get it back into the water.
“With a tarp, the idea being to assist it in the trench back to the water. Volunteer firefighters arrived with some perfect wide webbing straps and now, with enough people, it became possible to actually lift it clear of the sand.”
With many hands to help carry the heavy load carefully, the dolphin was safely carried back into the water.
“The dolphin was carried to the water and four or five folks stayed with it keeping it upright. It was obviously fairly weak and disorientated. Finally it was kicking hard enough that it was let go and it swam, unassisted to deeper water. A cheer went up from the crowd.”
As the crowd slowly began to disperse, the dolphin made a turn back toward the shore. This is when Ruan donned the hero’s cape.
“Ruan went in after it into the water and steered it in the water through the waves. He stayed with it for half an hour in the water. He told us it began kicking hard and he had to let go. The remaining people stayed for another hour maybe and watched it swimming out to deeper water, closer to shore, parallel to the beach and back out. It did not return to shore in that time and we left it.”
At the time of writing, no further updates have been shared. It is possible that the dolphin found its way offshore.
“No news is good news.” Pete writes. “Thank you everyone who came out and assisted. Left alone it certainly would have died. Right now it probably has a 50/50 chance.” Pete shares.
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