KHAO LAK, Thailand (Reuters) -- Rescuers have saved a dolphin swept over a Thai beach by the tsunami that devastated shores around the Indian Ocean, but failed to find her calf in a filthy lake left behind by the giant wave.

After two days of bickering between Thai and foreign experts over how to save the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, the adult animal was finally plucked from the lake in a net on Wednesday and released into the sea more than 1 km (1,100 yards) away.

"She swam away like a rocket. It was fantastic," said animal rescue expert Edwin Wiek.

"I thought she was going to be a lot weaker."

However, rescuers failed to locate her calf which had been dumped in the same fetid lake by the wall of water that smashed over Thailand's Andaman Sea coastline on December 26.

Watchmen were told to monitor the tiny lake through the night in the hope of spotting the small calf.

"I'm afraid she's probably dead," said Wiek, a Dutch national who has worked in Thailand for more than a decade.

The rescue of the adult female, which had a distinctive pink and gray fin, represented a triumph for the Thai authorities who shunned advice from international experts and devised a scheme with local fishermen to catch the dolphin.

Using two nets, they cornered the 2-meter animal in one corner of the lake and maneuvered it ashore and onto the back of a truck where Wiek treated a gash along its side.

Locals said many animals managed to flee the tsunami before it hurtled ashore and Wiek said he was amazed that so little wildlife appeared to have died.

"It proves that animals have a sixth sense," he said. "I think most of the dolphins also managed to get out of the way.

Five corpses were scooped from the dolphins' lake on Tuesday and a team of Greek divers who inspected the site earlier this week said they believed a number of other bodies were still trapped in debris beneath the waters.