“Luckily, its head was above the ice so it was able to breathe,” he said.

A team of six to eight rescuers saved the common dolphin from the slushy waters at about 4 p.m., said Brian Sharp, division head of the marine mammal rescue and research team.

A dolphin caught in sea ice was rescued off Cape Cod Bay in Truro after a beachgoer called the International Fund for Animal Welfare hotline on Tuesday, the organization’s officials said.

The sea ice, which forms close to land, prevented the dolphin from swimming away or diving underneath because of the mix of snow and ice.


Sharp said the rescuers pulled the dolphin out of the water and took it to a trailer where it underwent a health assessment, including blood tests.

After the dolphin cleared the assessment, it was taken to Provincetown shores and released into the water.

“There’s no sea ice in Provincetown and [the dolphin] has access to deep waters from there,” Sharp said.

The rescuers also attached a temporary satellite tag on to the dolphin’s dorsal fin that will allow them to keep track of the animal for 45 days, Sharp said. Once the small battery on the tag dies, the tag then falls off the dolphin.

As of Wednesday morning, the dolphin was detected 13 miles north of Provincetown in another area clear of sea ice.

Sharp said this was the first dolphin the Animal Welfare group found alive in sea ice.

“The whole reason this was possible was because the beachgoer called the hotline,” he said. “We are very thankful for that.”

The International Fund for Animal Welfare hotline is 508-743-9548.

Rebecca Fiore can be reached at rebecca.fiore@globe.com.