Volunteers rescue stranded dolphin near Ridgeland in fourth recent stranding

Volunteers with the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network (LMMN) rescued a young bottlenose dolphin stranded on a sandbar in a tidal creek near Ridgeland, South Carolina, on Sunday evening, WCBD reported.

The rescue was the fourth marine mammal stranding response LMMN has handled in the past 10 days, ABC News 4 WCIV reported. Earlier the same day, volunteers also responded to a deceased dolphin in the same area.

According to ABC News 4 WCIV, a local resident alerted LMMN about the stranded dolphin during low tide. Four trained volunteers arrived and kept the dolphin upright and its skin wet while waiting for the tide to rise.

As water levels increased, the volunteers guided the dolphin off the sandbar and back into open water. LMMN emphasized that marine mammals are federally protected and should not be approached or returned to the water without guidance from authorized responders.

The recent strandings come amid other marine mammal incidents, including a deceased humpback whale reported in Georgetown County last week, for which the cause of death remains undetermined, ABC News 4 WCIV noted.