Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter the dolphin, to launch digital TV series

Fans of Winter the dolphin, who starred in “Dolphin Tale” and “Dolphin Tale 2,” soon will be able to see the famous dolphin in a digital television series filmed at and around Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The first episode of “Rescue-Clearwater” will be released on Feb. 1.

“Rescue-Clearwater” is being billed as “the real-life follow-up to the ‘Dolphin Tale’ movies.” Produced by, told by and featuring the Clearwater Marine Aquarium team, the new online TV series shows the work that they do every day to rescue, rehabilitate and release marine animals. Plus, shows will feature cameos by “Dolphin Tale” actors Cozi Zuehlsdorff (Hazel), Nathan Gamble (Sawyer) and Austin Highsmith (Phoebe).

Check out “Rescue-Clearwater” on the first day of each month on SeeWinter.com or the aquarium’s YouTube channel. There will be 12 episodes, each lasting 22 minutes. Fans can sign up on the CMA website to receive emails with sneak previews and exclusive news about the show.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is not the first, though, to recognize that there is a growing audience interested in learning about the behind-the-scenes work that animal-care teams do every day. SeaWorld has two animal-rescue television shows that air nationwide on ABC affiliates on Saturday mornings. Both have been nominated for Emmy Awards.

The third season of ”The Wildlife Docs” once again highlights the veterinarians and animal-care specialists at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Host Rachel Reenstra takes viewers behind the scenes with these professionals to experience the daily wellness and preventative health programs and groundbreaking medical procedures. This season’s highlights include an annual check-up on a rock hyrax, a small African cat with skin allergies, and caring for an injured Nile crocodile.

The fifth season of “Sea Rescue,” which continues to show inspirational stories of marine animal rescue, rehabilitation and return to the wild by the animal care teams at SeaWorld, began in the fall. Hosted by Matt Gutman, this season’s stories include rescue efforts from several different oil spills, 20 manatees trapped in a storm drain and a pelican that landed in the middle of a busy highway.

An entire episode has been devoted to the work of rescue teams up and down the coast of California, including SeaWorld San Diego. Thousands of sea lions stranded this year due to starvation and exhaustion, and this mass stranding required flying additional zoological staff in from other SeaWorld parks to keep up with the rescue efforts.

During the second season of “Sea Rescue,” one show was dedicated to Winter’s rescue. Some may not know that in real life, Winter was found by a fisherman and the first responders were marine mammal experts from the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, who took over supporting the badly injured dolphin until SeaWorld’s rescue transport team could arrive to drive her to Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

From the start, Winter was bringing groups of people together and inspiring them. Now, you can have a front-row seat (from the comfort of your home) to more of these incredible stories of marine animals.

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