‘Dolphin Tale’ fans mourn death of film’s star Winter at 16

By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Amy Carmichael lives more than 4,000 miles from the Florida aquarium that housed Winter, the “Dolphin Tale” movie star with a prosthetic tail who died this week at age 16. But Carmichael, who has successfully fought leukemia much of her life, felt a strong bond with the bottlenose dolphin whose death Thursday saddened fans worldwide. Carmichael said by phone from her home in Scotland that Winter was “a special dolphin.” The struggle Winter went through to adapt to a prosthetic tail was told in the 2011 film, which inspired many people battling with illness or disability. The technology used to make her tail also has benefited humans and other animals.