FIVE men going about their business affected the rescue of a dolphin calf that got caught in seaweed along the shoreline in Courtmacsherry.
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Macroom-based operations manager with Glanua, Andrew Maudsley, was working with his brother Daniel and a colleague Donald Blakeman, at a pumping station along the Argideen Estuary when he heard the sound of splashing.
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‘I looked around and couldn’t see anything,’ said Andrew. ‘I continued working but I could still hear the splashing, so I went right up to the edge and saw what I thought was a large fish, until I notice a blow hole.
‘I realised it was a dolphin calf and it looked as if was about to be beached because the tide was dropping,’ he said. Andrew lost no time in attracting the attention of Matt Alice, who was working on his Zodiac nearby and in a better position to help.
Matt, who lives in Ballincollig but was in Courtmacsherry with his son Leo O’Sullivan-Alice, to visit his parents Max and Josee, said he heard the shouts and moved closer.
‘I could see the poor little fella stuck in the seaweed and I did what I could to send him on his happy way,’ said Matt. ‘I followed him in the Zodiac, guiding him as far as the pier and the last I saw of him was him going towards the open sea.
‘I was in Courtmacsherry for a few more days and went back every day to check the same spot, to see if he returned, but I never saw him again,’ said Matt. ‘I would love to believe he is happy now in the open sea.’
