[Shadow_Group] Poachers may have killed 'dolphins that saved swimmers'

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1362192004 

Poachers kill 'dolphins that saved swimmers'

/ALEX MITA/

POACHERS in New Zealand may have killed two members of a pod of dolphins 
that recently saved the lives of swimmers from a great white shark 
attack, lifeguards said yesterday.

The mutilated carcasses of the two bottlenose dolphins were found on 
Wednesday in the Awaroa River, which branches off the upper reaches of 
Whangarei Harbour on North Island's east coast.

Staff from New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) believe the 
dolphins died about two weeks ago after drowning in fishing nets set out 
by criminals poaching fish. DOC officer Richard Parrish said their tails 
had been hacked off, probably to free them from the net.

Three weeks ago, seven dolphins protected Ocean Beach lifeguard Rob 
Howes, 45, his 15-year-old daughter Nicky, 16-year-old lifeguard trainee 
Helen Slade, and Karina Cooper, 15, from the jaws of a great white shark 
at Ocean Beach, Whangarei Heads.

The protective dolphins have been hailed as the humans' saviours after 
the incident was reported this week.

Mr Howes was on a training swim with the teenagers to mark Helen's first 
day as a lifeguard.

The group was 100 metres from the beach when around seven agitated 
dolphins appeared. The pod formed a protective shield around the 
swimmers and even herded Mr Howes back when he tried to swim away.

The girls thought the dolphins were playing as they swam round them in 
tight circles, thrashing their tails, but Mr Howes finally spotted the 
outline of a 10ft great white. The dolphins warded off the shark for 45 
minutes and only when it moved off did they allow the swimmers to head 
for the shore.

The discovery of the dead dolphins has outraged the local community and 
shocked Mr Howes and Miss Slade, who feared the two mammals may have 
been a part of the pod that saved them.

An angry Mr Howes said whoever mutilated the dolphins should be castrated.

"In light of what has happened at Ocean Beach I would give them a taste 
of their own medicine," he said. "This is how we repay them for their 
help?"

He said setting illegal nets where dolphins could get tangled up in them 
amounted to "indiscriminate murder," and added that the discovery would 
put a lot of fishermen under pressure.

"There will be a public outcry against the use of nets," he said.

Miss Slade said she was disgusted to hear what had happened to the 
dolphins.

"Why would they do such a thing?" she asked.

Fishing with illegal nets, failing to report finding a dolphin in a net, 
and mutilating a marine mammal are all offences carrying a maximum 
10,000 New Zealand dollars fine.

Bay Of Islands SPCA inspector Jim Boyd said fishermen needed to change 
their habits and not set nets where dolphins could be caught.

"(Dolphins) drown in the nets because they cannot get to the surface for 
air," he said.

Mr Boyd called on the Government to impose legislation to protect the 
dolphins.

"If (illegal netting) doesn't stop then dolphins will become extinct," 
he said.

"That would be a sad indictment on society that we cannot look after a 
creature as special as this."


*This article:*

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1362192004 

*Sharks, whales & dolphins:*

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=226 





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