Ginger's Release

Greetings, all!
Just wanted to share something really awesome with you. Normally, I don't get this giddy about things like this, but this was just too cool! This morning, we released Ginger, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, from the Mote Marine Dolphin and Whale Hospital. Ginger was admitted Dec. 16, 2008 with pneumonia after she had beached herself on Siesta Key. We had a small donor reception at the waterside, so I got a front row seat. About a half hour before Ginger was released, there were two dolphins playing around at the release site. Jason, the guy who does the bay dolphin research (and can amazingly identify all 140 dolphins by a quick glance at their dorsal fins), reported that one of them was Ginger's mother. It's like she knew Ginger was coming back today.
The release went well, and about 5 minutes after the crew left the water, Ginger started body slapping (jumping out of the water, and crashing back down on her side). Martha, our communications VP, said she was probably trying to get the electronic tag off her dorsal fin, but I prefer to believe she was jumping for joy. I don't have any pictures, unfortunately, but I will post a link when the local tv stations air the spot.
Tonight is the corporate donor reception and my first planned giving meeting. It's gonna be one hell of a day!
-Audrey