After two whales got stranded on a beach in New Zealand, authorities tried in vain to get them back to the ocean. Luckily a dolphin rescued the whales, bringing them to safety.
Two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and a calf, got stuck on Mahia beach on the east coast of North Island in New Zealand.
The Conservation Department tried for more than an hour to coax them back to the ocean, but their efforts failed. The vets were planning to put the mammals to sleep because their chances of survival near the beach were slim.
However, thanks to a dolphin (named Moko by the locals) these two whales were
rescued and guided back to the ocean.
Officer Malcolm Smith, one of the rescue crew, told Sky.com:
I've never heard of anything like this before, it was amazing,"
Smith said the whales made contact with the dolphin and she probably understood their distress. The dolphin started escorting the whales back to the open water. She made a right angle turn through a narrow channel and escorted them back to the sea.
The whales didn’t return.
Moko seems to be a popular dolphin around Mahia beach; it interacts with swimmers and approaches boats and kayaks.
Dolphin rescues two stranded whales
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