Stricken dolphin 'asked' Hawaii diver for help

p1.jpg Tue, 22 Jan 2013

A dolphin tangled in fishing line sought help from a diver in the waters of Hawaii. The amazing encounter on January 11 was captured on video and the diver, Keller Laros, spent the better part of eight minutes tending to the needy mammal who readily accepted the help.

Mr Laros was leading a group of snorkelers for a manta ray dive experience off the Big Island's Kona International Airport when the dolphin squealed out. The diver explained, "The way he came right up and pushed himself into me there was no question this dolphin was there for help."
p2.jpg The group were enjoying the aquatic sights when suddenly they heard a dolphin cry and the bottlenose dolphin swam in their direction. Mr Laros told KITV how he soon noticed that the dolphin's movements were inhibited because it was entangled in fishing line and a hook was lodged in its pectoral fin.
p3.jpg The mammal allowed the human to work to help the dolphin break free. "I was trying to unwrap it, I got the line fishing hook out of the pectoral fin. There was a line coming out of his mouth. But, the line wrapped around his pectoral fin was so tight and he had cuts both front and aft," said Laros.
p4.jpg The diver said that the animal patiently and calmly allowed him to work to remove the fishing line. Mr Laros did remove the fishing hook and clipped the line that was near the mouth but as other divers joined Laros and tried to remove more fishing line, the mammal swam off and did not return.

"I've had bottlenose dolphins approach me a lot of times and they are really smart animals," Laros, a professional scuba instructor and Manta Ray researcher, explained.
Dolphin asks for help Last update: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:53:51 -0500