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FLUSHING PORPOISE DOING SWIMMINGLY

Flipper is safe and sound – as in the Long Island Sound.

The 4-foot-long harbor porpoise, who was trapped in a waterway near Shea Stadium, safely swam into the Long Island Sound just before midnight yesterday, authorities said.

“He just went out on his own,” Parks Department spokesman Edward Skyler said.

The gray mammal – a relative of the dolphin – swam into Flushing Creek Saturday evening and became trapped in a shallow pool.

Schoolchildren spotted it surfacing for air every 15 to 20 seconds while circling the pool.

Animal experts said the porpoise probably got lost after playing hooky from its school to pursue some fish through a tube under a railroad trestle.

“It didn’t appear to be in any kind of distress,” said Kim Durham, director of The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.