Winter’s Tail
about a year ago i travelled down to clearwater, florida to photograph winter the dolphin for turtle pond books. winter was rescued off the coast of florida as a baby dolphin after she lost her tail from becoming entangled in crab nets – in very bad shape, she was not expected to survive.
but survive she has, becoming a source of inspiration and strength for people around the world. with the hope that winter will be able to live a more dolphin-like life, engineers from hanger prosthetics and orthotics have dedicated themselves to developing a prosthetic tail for her; having made more than 6 tails for winter, the engineers have in the process developed revolutionary new techniques and applications for prosthetics that are now being used with human amputees.
the book, by the n.y. times best selling authors craig hatkoff and his two co-authors/daughters juliana and isabella, came out about a month ago, and it looks great. there’s also a crazy-fun interactive website with games and create-your-own video and music sections, and all this will soon be followed by “winter’s tail” the nintendo game! who woulda thunk it?!
