Discovery Cove officials catch Lowther family trying to disguise mammal as “Uncle Al” while leaving park (Lifted unapologetically from annual Christmas newsletter)

ORLANDO--While other park visitors stood by in apparent disbelief, a Fort Mill SC family was apprehended going through the Discovery Cove exit pushing one of the attraction’s pet dolphins in a stroller. Newly activated security scanning equipment revealed that the identity of the stroller’s occupant was not “Uncle Al” as the family claimed but Cindy, one of the park’s aquatic stars. Cindy was released unharmed back into one of the park’s salt water pools while the real “Uncle Al” was found at the “all-you-can-eat” buffet enjoying his fifteenth hotdog.

“It was a simple case of mistaken identity,” Paula Lowther said afterward. “Our daughter Janegrace is always finding animals that need a home.” She added that her youngest daughter had recently adopted a stray cat from Charlotte which she named Ricky Ricardo. Lowther’s other daughter LiLi said she doubted all along that Uncle Al was a dolphin. 

As seen before the attempted abduction: Todd, LiLi, Paula, Janegrace, Lesa and Uncle Al

Local authorities detained the family until Lesa Tollinchi, Uncle Al’s wife, posted bail. “I told the cops the Lowthers had recently moved from Colorado and probably had never even seen a dolphin before. They would have known that Al was not a Bronco!” she added with a mischievous wink. Tollinchi was not charged as an accessory although one police officer was seen twirling his index finger next to his temple and rolling his eyes as she gave her statement. 

Judge Judy is reviewing the case.

After nearly 20 years of working in a variety of hospital emergency departments across the country, Paula is transferring within the Carolinas Medical System as a school nurse for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. She is thankful that after working level one trauma centers from New York to California and Florida to Colorado, she has never been shot or stabbed. She hopes to be as fortunate as a school nurse. In the photo above, Paula scrubs off after a particularly messy day in the ER.

Following my retirement in 2009, Paula and I visited my oldest daughter in Charlotte NC during the summer and decided if we were ever going to make a move, there was no time like the present. So Paula found an ER nursing position at a new facility in south Charlotte and we found a community we liked just south of the border in Fort Mill, South Carolina. We moved into our new house in January, got the girls settled into their new schools and began to settle into southern living. But we've learned that many in the south have come here from elsewhere, many from New York, Michigan and Ohio. We are enjoying being closer to Paula's family and my oldest daughter and her family in Charlotte.

The view we left behind in Colorado. Taken one early November day from our front porch.