The dolphin that had been a part of so many children’s lives through her survival story passed away on November 11, 2021.

Winter, the bottlenose dolphin, was found on the coastal waters of Florida with an injury to her tail due to a crab trap in 2005. She was taken to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida for medical assistance, but the crab trap had sustained too much injury to the young dolphin’s tail. Winter had to get her tail amputated and she started to move her body side to side instead of up and down to swim. This movement was unnatural and was causing harm to the rest of Winter’s body. As a result of this, she was given a prosthetic tail that enabled her to swim normally.

Winter’s story has touched the hearts of family’s all over the world, especially when she was cast in the movies about her, “A Dolphin Tale” and its sequel “A Dolphin Tale 2.”

Junior Emily Nolan is one of the many students at school that distinctly remembers watching the movies about Winter as a child. “I remember my friends and I watching Dolphin Tale as kids and seeing Winter gone is so sad as she was part of our childhood.”

Winter had been living happily in the Clearwater Marine Aquarium for 16 years beloved by many fans, and of course the people who worked at the aquarium. She lived in a pool along with two other dolphins, P.J and Hope. Hope starred in “The Dolphin Tale 2”, which reenacted her survival story with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Last month, however, Winter had undergone a “gastrointestinal abnormality” which doctors and professionals from around the country worked to fix. Unfortunately, Winter did not respond well to the treatments and had passed away on the 11th.

Though the members at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium were devastated, they took to Instagram to announce the news to their followers, which many were gained from Winter’s story.

“While we are heartbroken by Winter’s death, we are comforted knowing that our team did everything possible to give her the best chance at survival.”