May 2012. Rescued from death's door and the confines of a filthy festering ‘swimming pool' in Hisaronu, Turkey, and after nearly two years of careful care and preparation, two dolphins were finally set free when the gate to their sea pen was opened for the first time and the dolphins swam Back To The Blue.
The international team of marine mammal experts from the US, UK and Turkey, led by Jeff Foster, masterminded the release every inch of the way. Jeff said, "Twenty months of intensive rehab work looks like they have paid off! Tom and Misha are looking great. We took two dolphins with perhaps only weeks to live and brought them back to full health and fitness, worked to teach them the essential skills required for survival, such as catching live fish from the local seas which they now hunt enthusiastically. In my experience, if any former captive dolphins can make it back in the wild where they belong then Tom and Misha can."
Virginia Mckenna
Opening Tom and Misha's gateway to freedom was legendary actress and wildlife campaigner Virginia McKenna OBE alongside Coronation Street favourite, Helen Worth, TV Investigator Donal MacIntyre and Derya Yildirim from the on-site team.
Opening Tom and Misha's gateway to freedom was legendary actress and wildlife campaigner Virginia McKenna OBE alongside Coronation Street favourite, Helen Worth, TV Investigator Donal MacIntyre and Derya Yildirim from the on-site team.
Virginia McKenna was deeply moved by the whole experience: "We could hardly believe it. All the months of planning by our dedicated team, all the time, the money, the effort. As we prepared to lift the gate I know we were all asking the same question: would Tom and Misha take their chance of freedom? We should never have doubted! They looked. They paused and then they seemed to leap for joy as the barriers were finally removed; this was all the evidence we needed. Their release back into the wild is a dream come true."
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