Ronnie Dabal was fishing in Puerto Princesa Bay in the Philippines when a squall capsized his small boat. He avoided drowning by hanging onto a piece of styrofoam. 24 hours later, he woke up on the beach. He told a tale of being rescued by dolphins!
Dabal is a part-time dolphin warden for the bay. His duties include spotting dolphin groups for tourists and removing garbage from their territory. Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn was excited by the story.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20081216-178325/Dolphins-save-Puerto-Princesa-fisherman -Thanks, Marco Martinez!
(image credit: Flickr user julesnene)
Dusk came as Dabal’s hopes started to vanish and a creeping darkness began to envelope him. From out of nowhere, a pod of around 30 dolphins and a pair of whales measuring about 10 meters in length came and started to flank him on both sides.
“Dumating yung mga dolphins. Ang dami nila. Tapos may lumapit na dalawang balyena. Dun sila sa tigkabilang tabi ko lumalangoy,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. (There were dolphins, lots of them. Then a pair of whales started swimming on both sides)
Dabal, 35 and father of two kids, swore it was not his mind playing tricks on him even as his energy was starting to fail him.
As he lay still on top of his piece of plastic board, Ronnie narrated how the dolphins would alternately nudge his tiny life raft using their pectoral fins towards the direction of land.
Dabal is a part-time dolphin warden for the bay. His duties include spotting dolphin groups for tourists and removing garbage from their territory. Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn was excited by the story.
“Ronnie’s experience is the greatest proof that what we are doing to protect our marine environment is worth all the effort that we are putting into it. I’d like to think that this is the animals’ way of also thanking us for helping protect their habitat,” said Hagedorn.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20081216-178325/Dolphins-save-Puerto-Princesa-fisherman -Thanks, Marco Martinez!
(image credit: Flickr user julesnene)
I can't imagine the fear he must have felt before actually seeing that they were dolphins around him and not sharks.
As Neato as it is, I can't help but feel unimpressed. Dolphins are (apparently) friendly. When will a group of Box Jellyfish make an attempt to ave someone's life ? lol
Or a giant squid ?
Its always the cute ones :p
I think it's AMAZING that a group of wild animals did this.
Seriously, the story is goofy enough without the whales. But having whales join in the rescue party sounds like some story a 8-year-old would make up. Why not have some flying unicorns thrown in as well?
So he has absolutely nothing to gain from increased tourism there?
And if the dolphins thought he was another dolphin, that would be a pretty mean thing to do, pushing him towards the land. Bastards.
When we visited some family in Haiti, I was a lot older and could join my mom & older sister when they went snorkling. There were some dolphins there that came around and watched us, they seemed to like my mom. She had this little harp like thing that she would play under the water. They really liked it, but I couldn't hear a thing.
We even had a small whale show up once and it really was a bit scary cause he looked big as a bus to me! My mom told me later he wasn't all that big. So I have some great memories of living by the oceans.
Too bad things have changed so much over the years. It's sad how so many parts of the ocean are dying, or sick due to pollution and climate changes.
Me? I believe the guy!
If they were just "playing" by pushing this guy close enough to shore for the surf to carry him in, then I hope many more of us learn to "play" that way.
I dunno, I've swam eye to eye with ("wild") dolphins far too many times to be able to doubt this story.
I do believe this story. Not because I have had a similar experience but because that man works every day to keep their lives safe. Dolphins as well as whales are extremely intelligent. I am sure they know exactly who is just by sure presence.
SO maybe those that have made such harsh comments about this story should step outside their box and quit being so cynical
Cartman: Yeah, beautiful and intelligent on rye bread with some mayonaise.
By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer
March 1, 2008
Most days, Moko the bottlenosed dolphin swims playfully with humans at a New Zealand beach. But this week, it seems, Moko found his mojo. Witnesses described Wednesday how they saw the dolphin swim up to two stranded whales and guide them to safety.
Before Moko arrived, rescue workers had been working for more than an hour to get two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, back out to sea after they were stranded Monday off Mahia Beach, said Conservation Department worker Malcolm Smith.
But Smith said the whales restranded themselves four times on a sandbar slightly out to sea from the beach, about 300 miles northeast of the capital, Wellington. It looked likely they would have to be euthanized to prevent a prolonged death, he said.
"They kept getting disorientated and stranding again," said Smith, who was among the rescuers. "They obviously couldn't find their way back past (the sandbar) to the sea."
Then along came Moko, who approached the whales and appeared to lead them as they swam 200 yards along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.
"Moko just came flying through the water and pushed in between us and the whales," Juanita Symes, another rescuer, told The Associated Press. "She got them to head toward the hill, where the channel is. It was an amazing experience."
Anton van Helden, a marine mammals expert at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, said the reports of Moko's rescue were "fantastic" but believable because the dolphins have "a great capacity for altruistic activities."
These included evidence of dolphins protecting people lost at sea, and their playfulness with other animals.
"But it's the first time I've heard of an inter-species refloating technique. I think that's wonderful," said van Helden, who was not involved in the rescue but spoke afterward to Smith.
He should keep doing what he's doing.. "helping save marine life"