Dolly is a dolphin. She’s a leapy-weapy dolphin. She loves dipping and diving in and out of the ocean.
Dolly has a friend. His name is Wesley. He’s an orca whale. Dolly and Wesley like spending their days swimming under the surface of the sea together. Their favourite activity is leaping out of the water and surprising the seabirds with a swish of their tails. They all screech with laughter when Dolly and Wesley suddenly appear from nowhere.
One bright, sunny day, Dolly is just about to leave home for dolphin school when she hears a huge, and very frightening, bang from high up above, near the surface of the ocean. She rushes to find her parents.
“What was that?” she asks, as her mum swims speedily over to give her a protective hug with her flipper.
“I’m not sure, dear, but stay here for now. You can go to school again tomorrow, when we know it’s safe.”
“I think I’ll go and investigate,” says Dolly’s dad, swimming up alongside them and then away from their shallow water home towards the ocean depths.
“Be careful!” shouts Dolly’s mum after him.
As Dolly and her mum peer up towards the surface of the sea, they suddenly notice it is starting to turn darker at one side. Slowly, the darkness creeps across the surface, cutting out the light from the sky above. They look at each other, feeling a little bit frightened.
In a few minutes, Dolly’s dad returns.
“I’m afraid it’s what I thought,” he says. “It’s an oil spill. A tanker carrying oil has crashed on rocks near the seashore. Some of the thick, black oil has spilled into the sea.”
“Oh no!” exclaims Dolly’s mum. “Dolly, you need to stay away until they’ve cleaned up all the mess.”
“But why?” asks Dolly.
“The oil is sticky and if it gets into our lungs, it can make it difficult for us to breath. And it can make us sick too. It can affect our brains.”
“What about my friends?” Dolly asks, worried.
“They need to keep away from the oil too,” explains her mum. “It could cause them lots of harm. If your seabird friends land in it, it will stick to their feathers and beaks so they won’t be able to fly or feed.”
On hearing this, Dolly swims around her parents, anxiously. She doesn’t want her friends to get hurt. As she swims round and round in a circle, thoughts go round and round in her head… until… she has an idea.
“Mum, dad, I’ve got to help. I’ll be back really soon.”
And with that, she speeds off through the water before her parents can answer.
As Dolly swims along under the growing patch of darkness, she meets Wesley. Wesley can see Dolly looks scared.
“What’s happening?” he asks, concerned.
“My dad says it’s an oil spill,” Dolly explains. “We need to make sure we don’t swim up through it or it can stop us breathing. We have to help the seabirds so they don’t land in it!”
“No problem!” agrees Wesley. “But we need to find them first. Come on. I can swim faster than you around the oil slick. Grab my fin!”
Dolly takes hold of Wesley’s fin with her flipper and they set off in search of their friends.
They finally poke their heads up through the ocean once they can see the sun filtering through the water again. As they do, they see their seabird friends circling overhead.
Dolly whistles loudly to attract their attention.
“Hey, over here! Quick! But don’t land on the water!”
The seabirds fly hurriedly over to Wesley and Dolly, thinking they want to play.
Dolly explains about the oil spill and that they need to keep away from it until it’s been cleaned up. She tells them to land on Wesley so he can help them reach safety.
The birds all flutter down and plant their webbed feet firmly on Wesley’s big smooth back.
“Ready?” asks Dolly.
The birds squawk to show that they are.
“Then hold on tight!” Wesley calls out to them, swimming off swiftly. He is careful to keep away from the edge of the oil slick. He skims and swerves across the water to avoid it.
The birds hang on for dear life, squealing with a mixture of fear and delight. They slip and slide across Wesley’s wet whale hide and have to try really hard not to fall off!
When they are safely beyond the oil slick, out in the open ocean, Wesley puts on his whale brakes. He stops so suddenly that some of the seabirds slip right off over his head into the water. PLOP, PLOP, PLOP! Dolly and Wesley have surprised them once again!
“Stay here until the oil has been cleaned up,” Dolly tells the birds. “You can go back to the coast once it’s safe.”
The rest of the seabirds fly down onto the water’s surface, and float there, flapping their wings furiously to show their thanks.
“You’re welcome,” replies Wesley. “Happy to help!”
And with that, Dolly and Wesley dive down under the ocean. Then they both leap up out of the water and soar into the sky with a swish of their tails. The birds all screech with surprise again.
Dolly and Wesley swim away smiling because they are really happy. They’ve given their friends the ride of their life and helped save their life at the very same time!
Questions for discussion
Do you know what causes oil slicks?
What problems do they cause for wildlife?
How can we humans prevent oil slicks?