A LUCKY bottlenose dolphin was saved from certain death – after a Sat Nav took passers-by down a wrong road.
Lorraine Culloch, from Dundee, was driving along Aberdeen’s coastline when her navigation system “messed up” and instructed her to drive down to Nigg Bay.
When she arrived, she spotted a stranded dolphin washed up on the beach, struggling to breathe.
After frantically searching for a phone signal, she managed to get in contact with the SSPCA and the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).
Both arrived on the scene and carried out a massive rescue effort which took ten hours.
The dolphin, named Spirtle, was eventually released back into the sea and was last spotted swimming out to the horizon.
Lorraine shared incredible snaps of the rescue on social media, where they received almost 2,000 ‘likes’ in less than an hour.
The photographs show the exhausted animal washed up on the beach, with towels draped over her to protect her from the sun.
Other pictures, taken much later in the day, show the rescue teams guiding her back into the ocean at high tide and eventually releasing her back into the wild.
Lorraine captioned the sequence: “For once I am so glad our Sat Nav messed up and took us down the wrong road as we came across a stranded dolphin in Nigg Bay.
“She had been out of the water a while as she had blisters from the sun and the seagulls had been at her.”
“We then had the nightmare job of trying to get a phone signal and eventually got in contact with the BDMLR and the SSPCA who responded so quickly and stepped into action.
“The rescue took ten hours plus, as we waited for the tide to come in. These amazing men and women stayed up all night waiting and monitoring the dolphin before wading out into cold water at 4am.”
She continued: “I am delighted to say it was a huge success and the last sighting of her was swimming strong in an outwards direction.
“We then found out the dolphin is one of the famous Moray family – a 4-year-old girl named Spirtle who we hope will reunite with her family.
“Massive well done to everyone involved. An amazing team of people.”
Hundreds of admiring Scots commented on the photographs, and praised the efforts of the rescue teams.
Kieran Anderson wrote: “This is amazing. This is why we need more people monitoring the shoreline. If you never went the wrong way it would have stayed stranded and died.”
Catherine Silversides said: “Amazing, must have been fate playing a hand there. Glad it all turned out well.”
Donne Bridgeman added: “Awesome job, well done. Thank god you were in the right spot at the right time.”
