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Winter, the Dolphin
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CLEARWATER, FLORIDA - The Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter, the bottle-nose dolphin that it rescued after its tail was horribly mutilated by a motorboat, today announced that it is preparing a stand-in actor for Winter. Winter became famous after a prosthetic tail was developed by Hanger Prognostics and Orthotics and fitted to the dolphin at the aquarium's clinic. Such interest developed in this unusual story, that Hollywood descended upon this west Florida community, home to Scientology, and filmed Winter's tale (and her tail). The movie, Winter's Tale, became a hit earning millions of dollars in its worldwide distribution. Moreover, it brought thousands of tourists to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, many of whom enjoyed a day of watching Winter swim and Scientologists parade about town. In fact, Winter's appeal made the Aquarium such a money machine, that it announced that it was building a new $160,000 facility with the financial support of the Clearwater municipal government and the moral support of the late L. Ron Hubbard.
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| One of several Lassies |
The backers of the project got a dose of reality, however, when the Aquarium's oldest dolphin, Panama, died this past September. "Winter can't live forever", Dr. Mike Walsh, the Aquarium's veterinarian said. Knowing that Winter's demise would create quite a damper on the Aquarium's finances since throngs of people would not come to the Aquarium if Winter was not there, the management decided to get another dolphin to stand in and even eventually succeed Winter. The problem was making the new dolphin look authentic. "Hell, there was more than one Lassie," said Clearwater councilman and Aquarium Board of Overseers member John John Footz, "and there can be more than one Winter."
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| Cleary before Procedure |
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| Marine Surgical Saw |
Soon thereafter a crew captured a young, healthy female bottle-nose dolphin, which they named "Cleary". A marine surgical team brought in from the Kansas Medical School and Fishery amputated Cleary's tail and outfitted her with a duplicate of the one used by Winter. "No one outside of the staff and a few of us in government will know the difference," said Footz, "particularly if you don't publish this interview. To most folk, they can't tell the difference between one dolphin and another, sort of like Bucs linemen out of uniform."
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| Cleary smiles happily |
Cleary seems happy in her new role, although Dr. Walsh suspects that the prosthetic tail itches her somewhat, and her sex life may not be as good as might otherwise be expected.
Asked for a comment, PETA's communication director said "We are Pissed, with a capital 'P'."
