This is the heartwarming moment a baby bottlenose dolphin stranded in the shallows was rescued in southern Thailand.

Four fishermen had just docked their boat after an early morning trawling when they noticed the juvenile animal struggling to swim near the beach.

The animal seemed weak so they carried it to the deeper part of the beach and waited for it to adjust to the water until it was able to float on its own.

Footage shows kind-hearted locals assisting the beached marine mammal back to the deeper part of the water in Krabi province on May 18.

One of the fishermen Anan Luklek said the dolphin might have been separated from its pod and swam to the shore but the tides turned low and it was stranded.

He said: ‘We believe it was lost from its pod. It might have swum into the shore but then the tides turned low and it was stranded until we arrived.

‘We were relieved that we arrived on time before anything could have happened to it. My friend thought it was crying and became happy when we helped it. We hope it could find its way back to its family.’

After almost half an hour, the dolphin measuring 2ft-long slowly adjusted in the water and was able to swim properly again.

It lingered near the fishermen for a few minutes before it delightedly swam back into the deeper part of the sea and disappeared in the water.

Bottlenose dolphins are sociable and playful mammals that could form friendships that last decades. Pods hunt and protect each other feeding on fish, squid, and shrimp.