Annals Of Astonishment–Dolphin Security: It’s a strange and mysterious world out there. Here’s the scene: a group of four swimmers, which includes a 15-year old girl, is having a nice day in the water, 300 feet off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand’s North Island. Suddenly a pod of dolphins appears and starts herding the swimmers into a tight group, and swimming close circles in the water around them. Puzzled, one of the swimmers tries to drift free, only to be immediately pushed back by two of the larger dolphins. As they nudge him back into protective custody he sees a 9-foot Great White shark stalking the group. “I just recoiled. It was only about 2 m away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face,” the swimmer, a lifeguard named Rob Howes said. “They had corralled us up to protect us,” he said.

The swimmers spent the next 40 minutes treading water while the dolphins screened them from the hungry shark. Eventually, Monstro swam off to look for an easier meal. Incredible. Too bad so many dolphins end up dead in tuna fishing nets, or lying on beaches with their eardrums blasted out by naval sonar…



“Yo, Flipper, get the f*ck out of the way! I’m trying to carbo load, and what the hell has the human race ever done for you anyhow…?”