Danny the Dolphin Memorial Fundraiser

Danny the Dolphin was a solitary bottle nose dolphin who first appeared in Portland Harbour in 2018. Danny's cheeky and curious nature earned him an enduring place in the hearts of both the local community and visitors to the area. He liked nothing more than showing off his acrobatic skills and would investigate closely any visitors to his watery world. Sadly, Danny's habituation to humans resulted in his losing his natural wariness to boats and water craft and, ultimately, ended with his death in Portland Harbour on 26 October 2020 due to acute trauma as a result of ship strike (hit by a large propellor).

The fundraising raffle is born out of the wishes of the local community to create a lasting memorial to Danny and the joy and magic encounters with him brought, as well as furthering the hard work of the charity Marine Connection to educate water users and the general public on how to interact with these fascinating creatures safely and without causing them distress or creating unnatural behavioural changes. Liz Sandeman, co-founder of Marine Connection, helped provide advice on Danny's welfare, identification and tracking during his time at Portland.

Local businesses have been incredibly generous in donating prizes for the raffle, a huge thank you to all!

The intention is to commission a plinth mounted plaque with the cetacean code of conduct for solitary cetaceans engraved on it along with Danny's story to be sited at Portland Marina where Danny was often seen playing.

Find out more about Marine Connection's work on solitary cetaceans