Moko trapping young women, dropping in on surfers

From correspondents in Auckland
From: December 08, 2009 11:08AM

HE'S tipped over water skiers, stolen surfboards and trapped young women at sea, proving he's anything but Flipper of 1960s TV fame.

A young Kiwi dolphin once celebrated for his fun, playful spirit has turned bad, becoming so aggressive that several swimmers have had to be rescued from his North Island beach in the past week.

The problem, say experts, is that Moko has transformed from a gregarious youngster to an exuberant and insolent hormone-pumped teenager.

"And a male teenager at that," marine science expert Professor Mark Orams said.

"He's doing what we all do as teenagers. He's testing his boundaries but he's testing them on humans and humans are coming off second best."

The 250kg bottlenose has trapped female swimmers and stopped them returning to shore for hours, overturned kayaks, tripped over water skiers, interfered with surf lifesaving training and blocked surfers from catching their next wave.

More than a few people have ended up battered and bruised after a Moko encounter and some say it's only a matter of time before the dolphin causes a deadly accident.

The authorities are going all out to prevent it, even planning to send out automatic text alerts warning people in the holiday town of Gisborne to be careful over summer.

But Prof Orams said the problem would be best solved by getting Kiwis to stay away from the creature altogether and encouraging it to spend more time with his own kind.

"Here you've got a very lonely bottlenose who loves human contact but he's getting way too big and strong for it," the expert said.

"In a sense he's seeking something from humans that he should be getting from other dolphins and while people keep seeing him as a human plaything, that won't change."

He said he has serious fears the four-year-old will either be badly hurt or cause major injuries if the current clashes continue over summer.

"I can't help but think that something is going to go very wrong with this situation in the next few months," the expert said.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/moko-trapping-young-women-dropping-in-on-surfers/story-e6frfku0-1225808132587

(Submitted by Peter)