Dolphins are our friends!
Posted on 11/23/2004 7:14:16 AM PST by presidio9
A pod of dolphins were being praised for providing a protective barrier around a group of swimmers who were being threatened by a great white shark off the northeastern coast of New Zealand.
Rob Howes and three other lifeguards were on a training swim about 100 metres off shore at Ocean Beach near here when the dolphins raced in and herded the group together.
"They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us," Howe said Tuesday.
When he tried to drift away from the group, two of the bigger dolphins herded him back.
He then saw why. A three-metre long great white shark was cruising toward the group about two metres below the surface.
"I just recoiled. It was only about two metres away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face," he said, adding he then realised the dolphins had moved in to protect the swimmers.
The group were surrounded by the dolphins for 40 minutes before they were able to make it back to shore.
Another lifeguard, Matt Fleet, was patrolling nearby in a rescue boat when he saw the dolphins' unusual behaviour.
When he dived out of the boat to join the group he also saw the great white.
Fleet said he was keen to get out of the water after the sighting, but didn't panic.
"I just kept looking around to see where it was."
The incident happened about three weeks ago, but Howes and Fleet said they had kept the story to themselves until they had a chance to catch up and confirm what they had seen.
Auckland University marine mammal research scientist Doctor Rochelle Constantine said dolphins were normally vigilant in the presence of sharks.
The altruistic response of the dolphins was normal, she said.
"They like to help the helpless."
Get some frikkin laser beams for those dolphins.
Why? Are they evil tempered?
Haha. Like the sea bass on "Austin Powers."
However, my concern is that some enterprising socialist (I hear NZ is chock full of 'em...) will file suit against the dolphins for damages, as they showed discriminatory practices against saving people from sharks. "Why did you save this person, and not these people?!" I am sure their shyster lawyer would say.
Yes, silly I know, but when PETA is advocating not eating fish, you know the Left is crazier than ever, that is why it wouldn't surprise me that flipper gets a subopena.
Its dolphin free tuna for me from now on.
One thing's for sure. The Dolphins were not Moslem.
Thanks for posting this one! This type of happy ending is just what I needed here in Wisconsin!
seems to me these dolphins are smarter than liberals.
Dolphins are our friends!
Cool. I like those sea turtle stories too.
Great story!
Thanks for posting (I needed a smile).
After all, Shark is a religion of peace.
The abuse of Shark rights by Marine dolphins, is "horrific," "outrageous," "right-wing," "fascist," "racism!"
Well, they're better than Miami on defense.
Fine, that just leaves more for us here at, "Wheeeeeeeeemsco"
O.K., so a group of life guards is almost devoured by a great white shark and herded together by dolphins for forty minutes, but they needed three weeks to get together, "catch up and confirm what they had seen." Yeah, that sounds about right because we all know how busy lifeguards get, with all the late nights and travel and everything.
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