There are many legends and news reports of dolphins helping and rescuing people. This while men have killed countless dolphins over the years and they continue to do so! Horrible, I know…

Victims of shark attacks have seen dolphins rushing towards them and repelling sharks with high-speed blows…

Drowning swimmers have told that dolphins lifted them to the surface to breathe…

Why they do this is, and will probably always be, a mystery. As fellow mammals, it is possible that dolphins recognize similarities in humans, and understand that we are vulnerable to drowning and attacks from predators.

To honor our beautiful and caring sea friends, we will share one dolphin rescue story on our blog each week.

July 1996 – Associated Press
Martin Richardson, a Briton, was swimming in the Red Sea off Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula when a shark attacked him. Companions aboard a diving boat heard him scream.
“Something took a bite of my side,” Mr. Richardson, a 29-year-old diver, told The Associated Press by telephone from el-Tur on Wednesday. “I started panicking for a bit, then it took another chunk of my upper arm.”
Mr. Richardson’s companions then watched as three bottlenose dolphins encircled the wounded man, flapping their fins and tails and scaring off the shark.
“This defensive behavior of dolphins is common when mothers are protecting their calves from predators,” said a statement by the Recanati Center for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel.
The statement said the dolphins continued to circle for several minutes until Mr. Richardson’s companions reached him.
Mr. Richardson was rushed to an Egyptian military hospital at el-Tur, 55 miles to the northwest. He recovered.