Hawaii dolphin rescue caught on video

HAWAII -- Dolphins may not have opposable thumbs, but at least they're smart enough to find someone who does.

In a new video filmed off the west coast of Hawaii, a lone bottlenose dolphin approaches several divers and persistently swims around them, revealing that it's caught in fishing lines. It then waits as one of the divers removes the hook and uses scissors to cut the lines, allowing the animal to finally swim away in apparent relief.

 

The divers were on a tour Jan. 11 near Kona, on Hawaii's Big Island, where they had gathered for a nighttime swim with manta rays. It's not unusual to see dolphins in the area, although they don't typically travel alone, tour guide Keller Laros tells NBC News.

He worried something was wrong as the dolphin circled by repeatedly, and his suspicions were soon confirmed when he noticed a fishing line hooked into its fin. He gestured with his hand for the dolphin to come closer, and it quickly obliged.

"I said, 'come here,' and he swam right up to me," Laros says. "I put my hand out and I was able to get the fishing hook out of his left pectoral fin. The fishing line came from his mouth down through the hook in the left pectoral fin, and then was wrapped all the way around the pectoral fin and it trailed off down the side of the animal."

The dolphin had to surface for air once during the rescue, but it returned so Laros could finish the job.

Its presumed foresight, bravery and patience throughout the ordeal impressed the veteran diver, who says the video provides further evidence of dolphin intelligence.

 "It's a huge thrill to be able to help an animal that clearly knows what's going on," he tells NBC. "He made the effort to come to us. ... The dolphin is really intelligent. It's a relationship. He came to us because he had a problem."

The rescue was recorded by videographer Martina Wing, who tells the BBC it was a "mind-blowing" experience. Her eight-minute YouTube clip already has nearly 1 million views in its first 10 days online — no small feat for a video of that length.

[As of today, May 31, 2014, it has had 3,004,939 views.]


The whole thing is worth seeing, but if you're short on time, here's an abridged, three-minute version:

[As of today, May 31, 2014, the shortened version has had 5,343,453 views.]


(Mother Nature News - Jan 24, 2013)

Bayou La Batre shrimper admits shooting dolphin with shotgun

MISSISSIPPI -- A Bayou La Batre shrimper has pleaded guilty to shooting a dolphin off the coast of Mississippi.

According to federal court records, Brent Buchanan entered a guilty plea Monday to taking a marine mammal, a misdemeanor.

Court records indicate that Buchanan, co-owner and captain of the Seaweed 2000, shot a dolphin in summer 2012 with a shotgun from aboard the vessel in the Mississippi Sound.

A judge scheduled a Feb. 24 sentencing date and allowed Buchanan to go free on $25,000 bail. He faces a maximum fine of $100,000 and a year in jail, although the actual punishment is likely to be far less severe under advisory sentencing guidelines.

It is unclear what Buchanan’s motive might have been. Neither he nor his attorney, Vincent Castigliola, could immediately be reached for comment.

It is not the first time that Buchanan has found himself at odds with the law. In June 2010, police handcuffed him after he and other boat owners had used their vessels to block the Mississippi Sound in protest of what they regarded as unfair hiring practices by BP PLC in its “Vessels of Opportunity” program following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The small boats effectively blocked work boats hired by BP from getting to the Mississippi Sound for about half an hour.

“I knew it was going to come to that,” Buchanan said at the time, adding that he brought two boats to the protest to “get a point across to the community. We need a job.”

Buchanan said that he was ticketed for interfering with police. He was eventually released at the scene.

(AL.COM - Dec 11, 2013)

Earlier:

• Alabama man charged in Mississippi with shooting dolphin with shotgun

Alabama man charged in Mississippi with shooting dolphin with shotgun

MISSISSIPPI -- An initial appearance is scheduled Tuesday in Mississippi for a commercial fisherman from Alabama charged with shooting a dolphin with a shotgun.

Brent Buchanan of Bayou La Batre, Ala., was charged Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court in Gulfport, Miss., with one count of illegally taking a marine mammal in federal waters.

Taking can mean harassing, hunting, capturing or killing.

He was charged in a bill of criminal information, a charge that generally means a defendant has agreed to waive indictment and plead guilty.

The court record says he shot the dolphin in the Mississippi Sound from his boat, the F/V Seaweed 2000, in July or August 2012.

The court website did not list an attorney.

(Gulf Live - Dec 9, 2013)