Lucky the Dolphin Rescued from Lagoon in Bluffton, Studied by USCB
A dramatic rescue in a Bluffton neighborhood gave a local dolphin a moment of national fame— but researchers at USCB have known and followed her for years.
A nearly 8-foot‑long female dolphin, known to USCB's Dr. Eric Montie and his team as “Lucky,” was rescued from a shallow tidal lagoon in the private Hampton Lake community in July after she became stranded. Officials believe Lucky swam through a culvert connecting to the May River at high tide during a storm surge. When the tide receded, she became trapped in 2 to 3 feet of water.
Neighbors, firefighters, and members of a non-profit organization for marine mammals worked together to rescue her and release her into the May River, where Montie has been collecting data about her and other dolphins for over a decade.
On July 12, a passerby in Hampton Lake noticed the dolphin in distress and told a neighbor familiar with wildlife rescue. This neighbor contacted the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, the federally authorized entity for marine mammal rescue in South Carolina.
The Rescue
Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network dispatched a team from Charleston, joined by volunteer Amber Kuehn, who also heads Sea Turtle Patrol Hilton Head Island.
They called the Bluffton Township Fire District for help with transporting the nearly 500‑pound wild dolphin out of the lagoon. The rescuers guided Lucky onto a marine tarp and then carried her up an embankment. They then loaded her onto a utility trailer provided by Kuehn and released her off a private deep water dock on the May River.
The rescue went viral, reaching millions of viewers through traditional news outlets and social media. Lucky appeared on ABC World News, in Firehouse magazine and in regional and local news.
Where is Lucky now?
Following Lucky's release, the USCB team has observed and photographed her in the May River near the headwaters and Palmetto Bluff, where she is frequently sighted.
"We spotted her swimming and behaving normally," said Alyssa Marian, who has managed Montie’s dolphin survey program since 2020. "She does have some new scarring on the tip of her dorsal fin."
Lucky seems unimpressed by her notoriety and has returned to spending time with other year-round May River residents, including many females with calves. Researchers call these “nursery groups.” Lucky is a Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops erebennus, formerly Atlantic bottlenose dolphin), which is the only dolphin species found in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
USCB Research
Montie — assisted by undergraduate and graduate students and lab staff — studies local and migrating bottlenose dolphins. He first sighted Lucky in 2011 and began monthly dolphin surveys in 2015. He and his team easily recognize Lucky based on distinctive notched markings on her dorsal fin— scarring they think may have occurred during a boat strike.
Lucky has been documented raising three calves. Fortunately, no calf followed her into the lagoon during the incident. Of the 140 dolphin surveys conducted by Montie and his team since 2015, Lucky has been seen on 74 of them.
"This is more than any other dolphin in our catalog," he said.
Montie's Lowcountry Dolphin Conservation Program at USCB's Marine Sensory and Neurobiology Lab is one of the Lowcountry's longest-running scientific studies. In addition to dolphin surveys, he and his staff and students conduct long-term acoustic monitoring of the May River estuary as part of the Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network in the Southeast (ESONS). Their research is advancing towards distinguishing vocalization patterns, particularly whistles and burst pulses, between resident and migratory dolphins.
“Over the years, we’ve recorded everything from the constant crackle of snapping shrimp to the complex courtship calls and choruses of fish, as well as the vocalizations of bottlenose dolphins," Montie said. “It’s not far-fetched to think that one day we might identify Lucky’s presence through her unique acoustic signature alone.”
Twice a month, Montie and his team travel the May and Chechessee rivers, counting adults, calves, and newborns. They also navigate to deploy and retrieve underwater acoustic recorders. This labor-intensive research by boat is expensive, and community support has been vital to allow it to continue.
Montage Palmetto Bluff
Since 2019, Montage Hotels & Resorts, LLC has donated $36,000 towards Montie's dolphin research. This support furthers the resort's mission of environmental conservation and preservation. In the same year, the five-star resort "adopted" Lucky as their eco-representative. She serves as a symbol for Montage Palmetto Bluff's sustainability program, which includes more efficient laundry practices, offering only paper straws and to-go boxes at its dining outlets, and many conservation practices at Palmetto Bluff's May River Golf Club (a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary).
"By partnering with Dr. Eric Montie and his team at USCB, Montage Palmetto Bluff will have a better understanding of the behaviors and needs of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin in the tidal estuaries and rivers that make up the Lowcountry," Montage Palmetto Bluff said in a statement.
Other community support for Montie's bottlenose dolphin survey program comes from Port Royal Sound Foundation, the Coastal Discovery Museum's Adopt-A-Dolphin program, and Pritchards Island Research.
"It is truly a community effort that keeps everything going—fuel, boat and truck maintenance, and support for students," Montie said.
*** Officials emphasized the legal protections surrounding marine mammals. Only federally authorized entities are permitted to handle stranded dolphins. Dr. Montie and his team conduct their dolphin research under NMFS permit #24033