I'm not refurring to Ian McKensie!
We had a wild encounter at the end of a surf session at Sumner. We often see Hectors dolphins surface and swim around us at. This mammal came up in front of us and we assumed it was a Hectors, but this dolphin was too big.
It surfaced once more before running itself aground on the rocks. At first we thought it might have been driving fish up close to the rocks to catch but it kept going and got stuck on its side. We paddled over to help it back into the water. It kept moving and it eventually wriggled back into the water without our help.
Can anyone identify it?
There was a photographer, Lake Sinclair, on shore and he sent these photos.
Success!
UPDATE
I couldn't id it as a dolphin so I contacted DOC and this is what they said.
Hello Daniel,
Thank you for your email. As you’ll see below we think that what you saw was a baby Pilot whale that has been seen in the area since first being found in a tidal pool at the mouth of the Waimak on Wednesday morning. It was refloated, only to be found and refloated by CCC rangers at Spencer Park.
Yesterday morning it was found stranded dead at South Shore.
From the marks on the body we can tell that is was a new baby from the nucal folds (marks on its skin) and it’s not normal for a baby to be separated so young.
If in the future you do find anything and can notify DOC cal the 0800 DOC HOT-line (0800 362 468). This is a 24/7 number and you can be directed to a local ranger.
Thanks again,
Craig
Craig Alexander
