Police respond to wild viral story about Florida man kidnapped by Gerald the dolphin

Everyone is obsessed with the viral story about a man who was kidnapped by a dolphin called Gerald, and now the local police have even responded.

If you missed this entire saga, a post went viral claiming that a 33-year-old man called Ricky James Hollowell was found on a beach in Lee County, Florida after being kidnapped by dolphins for three days. According to the crazy story, a dolphin called Gerald took him 40 feet underwater and forced him to help them build an underwater city.

“FLORIDA MAN FOUND SUNBURNED AND DISORIENTED ON SANIBEL CAUSEWAY CLAIMING HE WAS “KIDNAPPED BY DOLPHINS AND FORCED TO BUILD AN UNDERWATER CITY,” the post said. “Lee County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Sanibel Causeway early Monday after a motorist reported a man standing on the shoulder ‘soaking wet and drawing blueprints in the sand’.

“According to the police report, Ricky James Hollowell, 33, was found barefoot, severely sunburned, and wearing only swim trunks. He told deputies he had been ‘taken against his will by a pod of dolphins three days ago’ and forced to work on what he called ‘an underwater construction project’.”

The whole thing is obviously fake, and it actually came from a satirical Facebook page called The Dude Humor Report, which posted the fictional story on 4th March. However, the story went so crazily viral that even the Lee County Sheriff’s Office has now responded and confirmed that a man wasn’t actually kidnapped by dolphins. And they did so with a bit of humour of their own.

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In a Facebook post, the Florida sheriff’s office wrote: “While living in Lee County is paradise – we can confidently confirm the underwater real estate market has not been tapped into… yet. We checked with our newly implemented Underwater Construction Investigation Team and learned the dolphins of our oceans deny any involvement.”

They hilariously ended the post: “DISCLAIMER: No dolphins were harmed in the making of this rumour.” Well, I’m glad they cleared that one up.

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Featured image credit: Canva and Facebook