Dolphin rescued from Louisiana pond after being stranded by Ida

As Louisiana residents began to survey the damage left by Hurricane Ida, they saw something they did not expect: a bottlenose dolphin.

As Louisiana residents began to survey the damage left by Hurricane Ida, they saw something they did not expect: a bottlenose dolphin in the middle of a residential retention pond. Authorities and wildlife officials near Slidell, Louisiana, began receiving reports of dolphin sightings after the heavy winds and torrential rain finally passed on Aug. 30, the day after the dangerous Category 4 hurricane made landfall in the state, sending storm surge over a foot tall from the Gulf of Mexico to nearby communities. Residents, dealing with no power or available gasoline for miles, were watching the dolphin pop in and out of the pond's surface, Jon Peterson, vice president of SeaWorld Orlando's zoological operations, told ABC News. The dolphin, a male juvenile, likely came in through Lake Pontchartrain, an estuary in Louisiana connected to the Gulf of Mexico, and was pushed by the hurricane into a canal that led to the retention pond, Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammals Studies in Gulfport, Mississippi, told ABC News. Once the storm surge began to recede, the dolphin became stuck in the pond, Solangi said. The pond, which is typically only 4 to 6 feet deep, is located in a residential area on a busy road, so the public had a clear view of the dolphin, Peterson said.