Hallmark’s Andrew Walker Shares Heartbreaking Dolphin Rescue (Exclusive)

Andrew Walker may be starring in Hallmark Channel‘s latest movie, Adventures in Love & Birding, but he wound up coming face-to-face with a decidedly different animal as he prepared to film it.

Walker, 46, and his wife, Cassandra Troy Walker, 42, were at their oceanside home in Vancouver in May when Cassandra peered into the distance with binoculars and spotted a dolphin that was struggling.

“We often drop the kids off at school, sit down outside and have our coffee, and we have our binoculars there, and we’ll just spend an hour just checking things out,” Walker explains to PEOPLE. “She is looking out with the binoculars, and she’s like, ‘I think I see something flopping around. I think that’s a dolphin or some sort of whale.'” 

Several minutes later, Cassandra noticed people walking from the bird sanctuary next door, into the mud flats and toward the animal. She decided to join them to see if she could help in any way.

“I said, ‘Take your phone and call me if they need anything or if it’s a dolphin or whatever,'” Walker recalls. “I get the call a few minutes later, and she’s like, ‘It’s a dolphin. Move your car out of the driveway because the Vancouver wildlife rescue team is coming and they’re going to need to park in our driveway.'”

When the Marine Mammal Rescue Team from the Vancouver Aquarium arrived, Walker asked if they needed help and was told, “These things are like 800 pounds: the more hands, the better,” and joined them.

“It was a silver dolphin that doesn’t usually make their way into that area, but [the rescue team] said it likely had been chased and attacked by an orca. It wasn’t in great shape,” he says. “Just seeing this creature looking around, the kindness in their eyes — it was really amazing.”

The dolphin was “doing its sonar” as the wildlife team four sedated it. The whole group, including the Walkers and six people from the bird sanctuary, took turns helping to carry the animal over the mud flats and into the truck.

“The wildlife people were super sweet and said, ‘Hey, we’ll keep you updated one what happens,” Walker recalls. “That next morning, unfortunately, we got an email thanking everybody but the dolphin didn’t make it.”

“It was a really special moment to be part of something like that,” Walker adds. “I just wish there were a happier ending to it.”

“It was one of those unforgettable moments that makes you pause and just feel,” Cassandra wrote on Instagram. “Grateful to have witnessed it. Grateful for the people doing this work every day.”

But there was a silver lining: “We got to know some of our neighbors, and now we’ve bonded over this dolphin rescue,” says the star.

The family — including sons West, 10, and Wolf, 5 — has seen plenty of ocean life since. “Because of how far the tide goes out, when we walk out in the mud flats, we see dolphins, and we see the orca pods go right through this channel,” Walker says. “It’s spectacular.”

Weeks later, the family was able to visit Walker on the set of Adventures in Love & Birding, where the actor is paired with Rachel Boston, who, coincidentally, also lives near a bird sanctuary.

The movie, inspired by Sarah T. Dubbs’ novel Birding with Benefits, follows a single mom (Boston) who agrees to be the partner of a bird enthusiast for a birding competition but misunderstands the assignment and tells everyone she’s his new girlfriend instead of just his teammate. Romance — and ample bird jokes — ensues.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Adventures in Love & Birding premieres Saturday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel, and will be available to stream the next day on Hallmark+.