A baby Bottlenose dolphin became stranded on Fenit Island, County Kerry, on Tuesday night but was rescued by the Fenit lifeboat crew and three local families who worked together to save its life.

The dolphin was thought to have swam into the channel at high tide but got cut off when the tide retreated. Luckily for the dolphin, local woman Breda McCarthy was out walking her dog on the island when she spotted the distressed mammal. The resultant rescue mission involved the local Egan, Tobin and McCarthy families, three RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew, an inshore lifeboat and a 4x4.

A spokeswoman for Fenit lifeboat said that, "After discussing the situation with the expert it was decided that the best course of action for providing a safe outcome would be to transport the dolphin down to the harbour and then transport it by RNLI lifeboat out to sea to be released,” the Irish Times reports.

Under expert advice, the dolphin was carefully wrapped up and transported in the 4x4 to the harbour, where it was transferred to a waiting RNLI lifeboat and released into the water. The rescuers waited and watched as the dolphin swam around the vessel and returned to shore once satisfied that it was no longer in distress.