Dolphin saves stranded whales 

Two distressed whales changed their tune when a knight in shining amour turned up to save them at Mahia Beach in Hawke's Bay on Monday.

Department of Conservation field worker Malcolm Smith was called to help the stranded pygmy sperm whales and says he tried without success for an hour and a half to refloat the mother and calf. Smith says a sandbar not far from the beach was disorientating them and each time they restranded. He says the time had come to reach for his gun.

"I was close to putting them out for their misery," he said when Moko, a friendly dolphin who has made her home at Mahia over the last 12 months, "came out of nowhere" and guided the whales back out to sea.

Within minutes Moko had acquainted herself with the whales and led them to safety.

"I'd been there for an hour and a half, then so quickly she had them out to sea," Smith said, adding that the whales' attitude changed completely and they communicated with Moko in clicks and whistles.

Mahia is a hotspot for beached whales with up to 30 strandings a year but the experience was a first for Smith who has been on the job for over 30 years.

"Never seen anything like this before," he says.

Marineland manager Gary Macdonald describes dolphins as remarkable animals and says people should never underestimate the caring attitude of dolphins. He says the whales would have probably been sending out strong distress signals which would have been picked up by Moko.

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