Gotta hate humans who pollute our oceans and harm animals ... but also gotta love humans who save animals from harm ... like this jet skier who came to this poor dolphin's rescue.

A guy crusin' on his jet ski off Biscayne Bay, FL happened upon a dolphin in serious distress. The video starts with the jet skier, Nick Tuduri, noticing the dolphin flailing in the waters ... before noticing the dolphin's tail is caught in a net.

It doesn't take long for Nick to jump into action ... using a knife to free the dolphin's tail from the thick rope. The rope was so thick ... Nick spent 3 solid minutes trying to cut it. He's eventually successful ... and the dolphin swims away, hopefully pain-free.

As if this feel-good story couldn't get any better ... a pod of dolphins can be seen swimming beside Nick. They say dolphins are extremely smart animals ... so one can only guess the dolphins were saying, "Thanks, brah!!!"

America ... hates masks, loves saving animals.

This story originally appeared on: TMZ - Author:TMZ Staff