During December of last year, I wrote several posts about the Adelaide Port River dolphins featuring amazing photos and information from Paul and Debbie Huxtable, a pair of fabulous wildlife photographers who live in Adelaide, South Australia and post many great photos on their Adelaide Port River dolphins website.

This week I received an email from Paul with a link to this video he just posted on Youtube of Billie the dolphin; the Port River dolphin that started regularly swimming alongside Sandy Sandford as he helped racing horses train and exercise in the river during 1983. (For more detailed information on Sandy and Billie’ story, check out some of my posts on the Adelaide Port River dolphins.)

According to Paul, he found out about this video thanks to pure luck. He was judging a design and innovation competition a few years ago and another judge mentioned that he used to be a  film maker and filmed Billie the dolphin in 1987. After several years, the other judge at the competition, Shane Yeend, generously loaned Paul the original film and Paul transferred it to digital. Hooray, now the rest of us have the chance to see it!

During four minutes, you get a window into history and a chance to meet Sandy Sandford, the retired policeman who first met Billie the dolphin almost 30 years ago. They developed a relationship of mutual trust and respect, which Sandy wasn’t willing to compromise for the film. He agreed to the filming only if the film makers didn’t show Billie’s exact location.

Definitely watch the video, it’s a great introduction to Sandy and Billie the dolphin. My favorite Sandy quote, “Animals are much better than people in my opinion.” For anyone who drives in Los Angeles, this quote is very easy to understand.

(Note: For more great photos of the Adelaide Port River dolphins, visit Paul and Debbie Huxtable’s website. And a big thanks to Paul for sharing this video!)