PROTECT WILD DOLPHINS HOSPITAL FACT SHEET - Phase one of the hospital was completed at a cost of more than $50,000. - Approximately $50,000 was required to acquire and outfit the Dolphin Ambulance. - A portion of the proceeds for these projects comes from sales of the Protect Wild Dolphins license plate. Other funding comes from public and private donations. - The rest of the complex could be completed within six months if the required $750,000 were to become available. Progress will depend upon continued funding. - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution is working with state legislators to acquire matching funds to help with the Dolphin Hospital and continued research. - A facility like this is critical. There are more than 200 dolphin and whale strandings a year along Florida's coastline, and the majority of those occur in the five-county Indian River Lagoon region. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Inc. is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to the exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of mankind.