The distress call of a young dolphin has been used to lure a large pod of the animals to safety, after it appeared they would strand themselves in shallow water.

Environment officials in Western Australia caught the juvenile and took it to deeper water, where its distress calls enticed the rest to follow.

One dolphin died in the incident.

A spotter plane reported that the rest – thought to number about 150 – had swum to the safety of the open sea.

The dolphins had been milling in shallow water at Whalers Cove near the town of Albany, on the south coast of the state.

“The juvenile was sending out distress signals, which was calling the dolphins in,” conservationist Deon Utber told AFP news agency.

“As soon as it was translocated to deeper waters the pod followed it out and last we saw they were swimming out to sea.”

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