Louie appeared on a beach in Louisiana on September 2, 2010, covered in oil and with multiple injuries. He was the first living dolphin rescued from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The specialists who took him in gave him less than a 5% chance of survival.
What followed was a marathon of endurance. According to Michele Kelley, stranding coordinator for Louisiana’s rescue program, it took more than 700 hours of continuous care, day and night, just to get him swimming and eating on his own. Rescuers even believe another dolphin had struck him before, and that the oil was, in Kelley’s words, his final problem.
Because he was so young and lacked the skills to survive in the wild, federal authorities declared him non-releasable. In February 2011, he arrived at the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys, where dolphins Aleta and Delta adopted him. Today he is about 16 years old. A viral post explains that the dolphin was left with some brain damage and that his favorite activity is floating near the water’s surface to greet visitors. Because of this, they have to apply special sunscreen to him every day so his skin doesn’t burn from sun exposure. In the end, he’s just a rescued dolphin who wants to greet the people who saved him from the worst.