An Auckland police officer on holiday in Coromandel has come to the rescue of a young, trapped dolphin.
Motorways Sergeant Jonny Campbell and his family were holidaying near Hannaford's Wharf in Coromandel Harbour when he noticed a pod of dolphins swimming around the moored boats in the bay.
"They seemed to all be all around the one spot and I thought they must be going after some fish in the area," Campbell told 1News.
Having never seen a pod of dolphins so close to the area he's holidayed in for more than 25 years, Campbell called out to his wife to bring her attention to the pod before he got into his kayak for a closer look.
After his wife and daughter noticed that one of the dolphins looked stuck, Campbell saw a rope from a vacant mooring was wrapped around the tail of a younger dolphin.
"All the other dolphins were frantically swimming around, and a larger dolphin appeared to be trying to lift the trapped dolphin up so it could breathe," Campbell said.
"I yelled out to my wife Emily to call DOC or the Harbour Master. Other people had gathered and I asked if anyone had a knife. Another local told my wife he would go get a knife and bring it out to me in a boat."
However, Campbell's concerns for the dolphin grew, prompting him to kayak to a charter boat at a nearby wharf and borrow a knife from them.
"At about 10.35am, while paddling back to the dolphins, I was psyching myself up to jump into the water to cut it free. As I neared the trapped dolphin, I could see it was getting tired and thrashing less. I was really worried it was going to drown. The mother was desperately trying to prop it up.
"I went right up to the dolphin and managed to pull the buoy and dolphin towards me. I could see the rope wrapped around the tail. I managed to unravel the rope and set it free, without having to use the knife."
The sergeant said he had previous experience rescuing "plenty of animals" such as cows, sheep, dogs and cats from the motorway, but this was his first encounter with dolphins.
He said he'd rescued the dolphin as it is part of his human nature and the reason why he joined the police — to help people and animals alike.
"Obviously I'm not going to leave an animal or human in need. I'm always going to help."
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