A quiet fishing trip suddenly became an adventure for three men off the coast of New Zealand: a dolphin landed in her boat. Getting the unexpected guest back into the sea was not easy.
A dolphin, which weighs more than 400 kilograms, surprised the participants of a fishing trip in New Zealand: the marine mammal landed crash in their small boat.
“Like a flash” in the boat
The boat owner Dean Harris and his two companions had fished near Hole in the Rock off the north coast of the New Zealand North Island while dolphins torn around in front of them.
The men still looked a shade, then it slammed and chaos broke out. “He decided to jump on board and say hello,” said Harrison. “Like a flash,” was a big dolphin in the boat that hit himself. The panicked animal broke every fishing rod on board, and the bug of the almost five meter long boat was damaged. Except for a few scratches, nobody was injured by the anglers – the 3.40 long dolphin male remained intact.
Promoting the dolphin back into the sea proved to be impossible due to its size. The group alerted the New Zealand nature conservation authority and was then led to a boat ramp, where workers were waiting to help the dolphin. On the way, the anglers kept over the animal with water and protected it with a damp towel in front of the sun.
Back in the sea with a new name
On land, members of a local Māori tribe prayed for the dolphin before being brought back into the sea with a tractor. The marine mammal also got a name: “Tohu”, which means “sign” in the Māori language.
“Tohu” is now also the name of Harrison's boat. “The dolphin swam away and we got away and we all have a story to tell,” he said. “It is a good ending for a situation that could have ended very differently.”
