This moving footage of a man and his dog helping to rescue a baby dolphin on a beach in North Wales has gained a million views on YouTube recently.
The footage, captured on pebbly Criccieth beach in 2015, shows dog Leia alerting its owner to the beached animal before the man manages to help it through the shallow waters and back into the ocean.
“C’mon, buddy! C’mon mate! That’s it! Go on! Go on!” the rescuer can be heard saying in the video, encouraging the animal into deeper waters.
Writing online after the rescue, the filmer said: “Whilst attempting bass fishing on a beach near Criccieth, close to the mouth of the River Dwyfor, I was taking photos of the fantastic scenery when I heard my dog barking at me from further down the beach. Clearly she had found something!”
“I managed to gently lift and guide this beached baby dolphin/juvenile harbour porpoise back out to sea.
“I stayed at the site for a while after to make sure he didn’t come back. I spoke to the coastguard once I had signal and they reported it to the science team. I think the little guy was lucky as there was nobody around for miles!
“And, if it wasn’t for my dog barking at me I would have missed him too!”
Video footage shot in Gwynedd, United Kingdom, on July 5, 2015.