A pod of dolphins may have been in deep trouble if it had not been for an entire community coming to their rescue last week.

The dolphins had been trapped in the shallow waters of Newfoundland's Trinity Bay by a ring of ice that was spreading closer and closer to the shore. Surrounded by ice for several days, the dolphins had no way of escaping the harbor.

As concerned town members crowded the shores, someone asked local fire chief Stanley Legge if he could use some of his heavy machinery to clear a path for the dolphins.

Legge then moved an excavator up to the edge of the water and started digging out large chunks of ice from the harbor. Once a substantial amount of ice had been cleared, other rescuers took their boats into the water so they could continue cutting a path to the sea.

Finally, after plenty of hard work, the dolphins were able to swim free. According to the CBC, the onlookers started cheering and honking their car horns in celebration of the successful rescue.

"It's a mission accomplished," Legge told CBC. "I guess we done something good today for the environment and I guess it gives a lot of people a lot of peace of mind that the dolphins got away freely."

(WATCH the video below)

You Should Dolphinately Click To Share The Story With Your Friends - Photo by CBC