A group of volunteers joined forces to form a human chain to free four dolphins which had been stranded（搁浅）in a canal for four days. The four dolphins were seen in the water near the Fossil Park neighborhood in St Petersburg, Florida, US, on Sunday. Experts from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission （FWC） had monitored the dolphins' activities in the past few days and hoped that they would swim out with the tide.
But when the dolphins struggled to leave the canal, the brave volunteers joined members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to form a rescue team to free them. Dozens of people gathered to take videos and pictures of the kind act. A team of 14 volunteers held hands to act as a block to guide the dolphins out of the narrow channel. They shouted and patted the water with their hands to direct the dolphins to vast expanses of Riviera Bay. Dolphins find their way in the water through echolocation（回声定位）. That means that, by making high-frequency sounds, they can recognize the echoes of sound waves that bounce off objects to find their way around.
Andy Garrett, a biologist of the FWC said, "We were able to keep that chain together. The dolphins were interested. They actually came over right away. " He added that when the team reached a bridge, the dolphins appeared a bit nervous and started doing some spins. "They made one real hard pass at our team and then went under the bridge and took off, " Garrett said. The operation lasted about 45 minutes and the rescue team did not use nets or any items that could stress the dolphins.
