Two brave women jumped into ice-cold water to rescue a poor dolphin stuck between rocks.
Amy Walker, 42, Carrie Warrior, 57, and Sarah Gale, 62, were enjoying their annual Christmas walk on the beach in Hastings, East Sussex, when they spotted seagulls hovering in the distance and a fox.
Looking closer, the group saw the distressed animal trapped in a rock gulley near the shore.
Amy, a TV producer, threw her coat to Sarah and instantly dashed into the water, with Carrie quickly following.
They then spent more than 20 minutes wrestling with the current, worrying that they would not be able to free the dolphin, whilst Sarah watched on nervously.
‘It was pretty tough going because the sea was rough and we could not get a sure footing on the seabed because of the rocks,’ Amy said.
‘The tide was coming in so we were getting knocked over and having to pick each other up, as well as trying not to stress the dolphin even more.
‘I was telling her she would be okay. We were at the tail end because we were not sure if she would bite us – she was really heavy.’
Initially, the trio thought it was a shark, but as soon as they realised, Carrie and Amy sprang into action.
Carrie, who works as an artist, recalled the water was ‘choppy’, and they could not see the rocks under the water, so they were getting ‘battered’.
She stressed it was a ‘two-woman job’, adding: ‘I thought we were not going to be able to free her but how can you walk away and watch such a creature suffer?’
‘It took more than 20 minutes of both of us maneuvering the dolphin before we were able to turn it and finally release it.’
The dolphin safely swam off in the direction of Bexhill, west of Hastings, leaving the three women able to breath a sigh of relief.
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