48. A Tribute to Winter the Dolphin

On this final Aquadocs episode of 2021, Michelle interviews Dr. Shelly Marquardt, veterinarian at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, as a special tribute to Winter the Dolphin. Winter, one of the bottlenose dolphins at Clearwater was found in the coastal waters of Florida in 2005. She was caught in a crab trap that resulted in the loss of her tail. Over the years, her team has worked tirelessly to provide unique enrichment for her unique morphology, including a silicone tail to help with her unnatural swimming patterns (tail moving side to side instead of up and down). Sadly, Winter recently passed away on November 11, 2021. Despite incredible life-saving efforts by Dr. Marquardt and experts from around the country who flew in to help her, Winter passed away from intestinal torsion. This episode was recorded a few weeks prior to her passing and tells her incredible rescue story from a veterinary perspective. We are releasing this episode as a tribute to her and her animal care staff.