Winter the Dolphin to Meet Young Amputee and War Vet

Winter's whole story is quite amazing, especially seeing very few people even gave her any chance of survival back in Dec '05 - and it is like I thought early on - as she is so good with people this is in her future (actually tomorrow, yikes I've got to get ready....). I actually saw this little girl meet Winter back in July - there weren't too many dry eyes that observed the meeting I'd have to say.....

Winter to Meet Young Amputee and War Vet

Clearwater, Florida - Clearwater Marine Aquarium announced today that it will be hosting two people with missing limbs this Friday. Due to the overwhelming response by the amputee community to the global story of Winter the dolphin, CMA will announce a formal program whereby amputees and other individuals with missing limbs and severe disabilities can visit CMA and learn of Winter’s story.

Upon release of Winter’s inspiring story last year, it has become one of the largest media stories in Tampa’s history. Winter is a young bottlenose dolphin who lost her tail after being tangled in a crab trap, and is now being fitted with a prosthetic tail. With repeated airings on the NBC Today Show, CBS Early Show, CNN, BBC, and nearly every other major news outlet, Winter has become a global phenomenon. Due to this coverage, CMA was contacted by a number of amputee support groups, including the Tampa Veterans Hospital, communicating how they were personally inspired by her survival and progress. In addition, some of the technology derived from the prosthetic tail project is now benefiting human amputees.

Katrina Simpkins, a 9-year-old from Indiana with a birth defect that has left her with a prosthetic leg, happened to meet Winter in July while visiting CMA. Katrina was offered a private session with Winter where she learned about Winter’s similar disability. The visit changed Katrina’s life. Since returning home, Katrina has told all of her friends about her new “soul-mateâ€, and asks every day to be able to visit Winter again. After learning of this, CMA offered to fly Katrina and her family for a second visit with Winter.

CMA will be hosting a media event to introduce Katrina and a member of the Wounded Warrior Project, a group that aids severely wounded service men and women. These two will be given an update on Winter and a personal presentation by the CMA trainer staff working with Winter and her prosthetic tail.

All media are invited. The event will begin at 10:00 am at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium on Friday, October 26, 2007.

For further information contact:

David Yates

727-409-6282

727-441-1790 x 235

dyates@CMAquarium.org

· 501© (3) Not For Profit

249 Windward Passage · Clearwater, FL 33767-2244 · Phone (727) 441-1790 · Fax (727) 445-1139

Event went really great yesterday.

Of course I got a ton of pics and some video but these news guys are faster than I....

Here's a link to story and video link 1/2 way down:

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/10/26/298182.html

And most of all Winter thrived with all the attention. Since she was rehabilitated by humans after her crab trap entanglement injury for nearly 6 mos of her early life (before she could be introduced to other dolphins); Winter still loves affection from people!

The amputees had very interesting stories. The little girl Katrina just happened to visit Clearwater Marine Aquarium last June during a family trip to Disney. This 9 year old little girl feels she has a strong "connection" with Winter and I must say Winter seemed to recognize her and was very interested in Katrina. Katrina is also returning this afternoon to watch us scuba divers go in to scrub the tanks as she is very interested!! B)

Alex the 11 yr old boy could run around faster than me with his very mobile prosthetic and Anthony @ 14 - well you barely notice both of his legs are metal as he stands so tall.

Additionally very inspiring was Melissa Stockwell's story. She was in the army and stepped on something explosive in Iraq. As she said, it was kind of similar to Winter - due to excellent medical procedures these days many wounded vets who would not have survived before have lived (like herself) and the advancements in prosthetics has made just about anything possible. BTW she was supposed to be in a triathlon [ ] in San Diego yesterday but that was canceled due to the fires so she was able to come and see Winter. She said it was very inspiring and the non-profit "Wounded Warrior Project" was going to participate in "sessions" with Winter.

I think I can speak for all at CMA and others who helped Winter recover that her story of survival and the rich life she now has (when she would have had no life otherwise as the alternative when she was found was euthanization) is a source of inspiration for many others and we are very pleased with this.

I think the basis here is people like to help and actually creatures of higher intelligence seem to like to "help" others also. At least that is the way I have observed this whole 2 year odyssey. (Plus new laws have recently been enacted to facilitate the removal of derelict crab traps around Florida - to help prevent this sort of tragedy from happening to other creatures).

Best, Carol