A dolphin tangled in fishing line sought help from a diver in
the waters of Hawaii.
The amazing encounter on January 11 was captured on video and
the diver, Keller Laros, spent the better part of eight minutes
tending to the needy mammal who readily accepted the
help.
Mr Laros was leading a group of snorkelers for a manta ray
dive experience off the Big Island's Kona International Airport
when the dolphin squealed out.
The diver explained, 'The way he came right up
and pushed himself into me there was no question this dolphin was
there for help.'
The group were enjoying the
aquatic sights when suddenly they heard a dolphin cry and the
bottlenose dolphin swam in their direction.
Mr Larostold
KITV how he soon
noticed that the dolphin's movements were inhibited because it was
entangled in fishing line and a hook was lodged in its pectoral
fin.
The mammal allowed the human
to work to help the dolphin break free.
'I was trying to unwrap it, I
got the line fishing hook out of the pectoral fin. There was a line
coming out of his mouth. But, the line wrapped around his pectoral
fin was so tight and he had cuts both front and aft,' said
Laros.
'I was worried if I tugged on
it, it might hurt him more. I was able to cut the fishing line and
unwrap it.'
The diver said that the animal
patiently and calmly allowed him to work to remove the fishing
line.
'I've had bottlenose dolphins
approach me a lot of times and they are really smart animals,'
Laros, Laros, a professional scuba instructor and Manta Ray
researcher, explained.
Mr Laros did remove the
fishing hook and clipped the line that was near the mouth but as
other divers joined Laros and tried to remove more fishing line,
the mammal swam off and did not return.