--- title: Kayaker Saves a Beached Baby Dolphin description: A kayak tour guide was leading a group along Walvis Bay in Namibia and ended up rescuing a baby dolphin canonical: https://time.com/4362676/baby-dolphin-kayaker-rescue/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-09T17:21:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:12.253Z og:title: This Kayaker Saved a Beached Baby Dolphin og:description: A one-man dolphin rescue squad og:url: https://time.com/4362676/baby-dolphin-kayaker-rescue/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Kayaker Saved a Beached Baby Dolphin twitter:description: A one-man dolphin rescue squad twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Kayaker Saved a Beached Baby Dolphin by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 9, 2016 5:21 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 9, 2016 5:21 PM UTC A kayak tour guide was leading a group along Walvis Bay in Namibia when he spotted something on the beach: a baby Benguela [dolphin](http://time.com/4228838/dolphin-selfie-death/?iid=sr-link1) lying on the beach. Despite the fact that the dolphin kind of looks like a [baby killer whale](http://time.com/4359891/seaworld-whale-beached/?iid=sr-link1), the tour guide, Naude Dreyer of Pelican Point Kayaking, bravely picked up the beached dolphin, which is also known as a Heaviside’s [dolphin](http://time.com/3428322/japan-dolphin-hunt-taiji-the-cove/?iid=sr-link2), and carried it back to the water. It’s worth noting that many animal rescuer organizations recommend not attempting to do this alone, and rather urge people who find stranded animals to call authorities. Because many animals beach themselves again after they are rescued, Dreyer plans to keep an eye out for the little [dolphin](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2059858%5F2059863%5F2060210,00.html?iid=sr-link7). “I’ll do a drive past the same area again later just to make sure he hasn’t returned again,” he wrote. \[[Mashable](http://mashable.com/2016/06/09/dolphin-carried-to-sea/#HbLE39fum8qN)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4362676/baby-dolphin-kayaker-rescue/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4362676/baby-dolphin-kayaker-rescue/"},"headline":"This Kayaker Saved a Beached Baby Dolphin","datePublished":"2016-06-09T17:21:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:12.253Z","description":"A one-man dolphin rescue squad","url":"https://time.com/4362676/baby-dolphin-kayaker-rescue/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4362676/baby-dolphin-kayaker-rescue/","name":"This Kayaker Saved a Beached Baby Dolphin"}}]}] ```