A dolphin has been found trapped in a Nassau County river, and officials are now trying to come up with a safe way to lead it back to sea.

Somehow, the 5-foot dolphin ended up in Mill River in East Rockaway over the weekend. Since then, residents from the Rockaways to Rockville Centre have been flocking to the area to see it.

"He must have followed some bunker during the high tide, and as a result of him coming in with the bunker, he all of the sudden found himself locked in here," says Brian Bowden.

Andrew Miller captured a video of the dolphin while kayaking in the river.

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"I kept my distance. He kept his distance and he surfaced a bunch of times, which is ... what you want to see," says Miller. "It's one of those things you don't see every day, you're never that close to one, so it's definitely interesting."

The operator of nearby Rolling Day Camp is taking special precautions to keep the dolphin safe.

"In order to protect it and make sure there's no damage done, we've been limiting the use of our motorized boats," says Marissa Allaben. "We're still able to take out our kayaks and canoes, but the motorized boats are somewhat limited until we know the dolphin is safe."

Michael Lamonica, 5, and many other residents loved seeing the dolphin in their backyard, but are worried about it because he is lost from his natural habitat.

"Well, it's pretty cool but it has to go in the ocean," he says.

The only way for the dolphin to exit Mill River is underneath a train trestel. The problem is the water isn't deep enough for that to happen.

The New York Marine Rescue Center says it's monitoring the situation.

"At this time we don't see any abnormal behaviors from the animal, it's free swimming," says Maxine Montello. "However, getting the animal out of that area is going to be challenging and can add a lot of stress to the individual. It's not safe to go into it and try to get the animal out for the animal and for the team."