Dolphin thanks with a splash and a wink
26 Aug 2009
Dolphins are renowned for helping humans in trouble at sea but a group of fishermen off New Zealand’s Northland coast have returned the favour by freeing a dolphin caught in a fishing long-line.
The dolphin, feeble and facing death, approached the charter vessel for help.
Once freed, the dolphin farewelled his human helpers with a lap around their boat, before being joined by another 100 clacking, leaping dolphins - a gesture which left a boatload of 10 "burly men" damp-eyed with emotion.
Dolphin tangled
Edan Craig was the deckhand when the charter boat Cerveza was sailing off the Mokohinau Islands, east of Whangarei earlier this month.
When he saw splashing in the distance, one of the anglers on board thought he had accidentally hooked a dolphin.
However, when the splashing moved closer, the crew realised a dolphin had become hooked in a piece of long-line.
"He sort of manipulated himself to get near us because he knew we were his only help," said Craig.
The line, which was wrapped around the dolphin's head and tail, took 10 minutes to cut free.
"He didn't move - we all thought he was on his last legs," said Craig.
A splash and a wink
Even after the dolphin was freed from the line, the mammal took another 10 minutes to gain enough strength to swim away - floating on its side while the 10-person Cerveza crew waited with bated breath.
"He was lying on his side and he had eye contact. We didn't think he had a bit of hope," said Craig.
But suddenly the dolphin came to life and swam a lap around the boat, before giving "a bit of a splash and a wink" and swimming out to sea.
"There were 10 of us on the boat and I don't think there was a dry eye on the boat at all, and they're all burly sorts," said Craig.
Twenty minutes later the Cerveza was fishing near Burgess Island about a kilometre away when a large pod of dolphins joined the boat for more than hour, leaping around the craft, before swimming away.
Craig said he had never seen anything like it in 15 years of fishing.
More information:
New Zealand dolphins
Northland
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