Caught on camera: The moment Florida family tugs dolphin by the tail to safety after finding it stranded on a sandbar

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

On a mission: George Heheman and his daughter, Kerry Ware, pull a dolphin to safety after it was stranded on a sandbar in the Intracoastal near Fort George Island, Florida

This is the incredible moment a Florida family rescued a dolphin from shallow waters after spotting it flapping helplessly on a sandbar.
George Heheman and his daughter Kerry Ware were on their boat in the Intracoastal near Fort George Island, Jacksonville when they saw the beached animal stranded above water. A video shot by Mr Heheman's 11-year-old grandson, Justin, captured the ordeal on camera, as the father-daughter team struggled to free the marine mammal they say weighed 300lbs. Ms Ware, 41, told ABC News the family saw the dolphin flapping on top of the water and stopped to see what was going on.
'We were turning the corner and we saw a dolphin that had beached itself on a sandbar and it looked like she was trying to come out of a smaller creek into open water,' she said.

Time is ticking: The tide was going out quickly making the rescue less likely by the minute

The family told the network the dolphin's calf was waiting nearby in deeper waters. They think the mother dolphin may have been feeding the baby in a tidal creek nearby and became stuck as the tide washed out before she returned.
The tide was going out quickly, however, making the rescue less likely by the minute.
Fortunately, Mr Heheman, 72, had recently watched a video of a dolphin rescue, and remembered the animals being pulled to safety by their tails.

source: dailymail