World’s tallest man rescues dolphins in China

Published: December 14, 2006 | 5197th good news item since 2003

The world’s tallest man has rescued two dolphins from certain death after they swallowed some plastic at an ocean aquarium in northeast China.

The dolphins had fallen sick almost immediately after swallowing some plastic from the perimeter of their pool two weeks ago, the state media reported on Thursday.

Vets attempted to surgically remove the plastic but the contraction of the dolphins’ stomachs in response to the surgical instruments rendered their task impossible.

Aquarium staff in Fushun in northeast China’s Liaoning Province then realised that the plastic could only be removed by a human hand.

Then they sought help from the world’s tallest man, 2.36-meter-high Bao Xishun, a herdsman from Inner Mongolia.

Bao, who had an arm of 1.06 meters correctly fitted the job. While a dozen men held down the dolphins’ upper jaws with towels so they could not chomp down on Bao’s giant limb, he reached his hand into the stomach of each dolphin and pulled out the plastic shards.

It is still not known how the plastic pads, used to prevent skidding around the outside of the pool, fell into water to be eaten by the dolphins.

“Some very small plastic pieces are still left in the dolphins’ stomachs,” said Zhu Xiaoling, a local doctor. “However the dolphins will be able to digest these and are expected to recover soon.”

Bao was confirmed as the world’s tallest human being by the Guinness Book of World Records last year.

Published in Animals
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