Wednesday, 10 March 2010
WHAKATANE’S friendly bottlenose dolphin Moko had a close encounter of the canine kind when he met Bakes the Jack Russell at the Whakatane Wharf.
The little dog began yapping at Moko as his owners were swimming in the water off the wharf with the dolphin - prompting the marine mammal to investigate who was making the noise.
This photograph was sent to the Beacon by Karen Esterhuizen, a regular contributor to Moko’s Facebook page, which now has 1736 fans.
The dolphin has recently been swimming near the Evelyn J, which has been dredging the bar near the Whakatane Heads.
Moko fans have been advised to steer well clear of the boat while it is at work.
While the dolphin has been swimming very close to the vessel which has been churning up the sediment on the outgoing tide, he is in absolutely no danger from it.