As I mentioned in an earlier post, Moko, the solitary dolphin is hanging around Whakatane and Ohope recently and amazes many people every day. Chris Redhead, a local vet published a blog, where you can read up-to-date notices of Moko´s appearance, follow discussions and read about people’s experiences.
By following this blog I became aware of Kirsty, who often reported amazing experiences with Moko.
When I went eventually for a swim with Moko myself at the yacht club I noticed (not for the first time) a woman who seemed to interact in a `different´ way and who seemed to have a different relationship with Moko than those who were standing or swimming there in the water hoping for some attention from him.
She was not at all interested ...
in being centre stage but it was obvious that Moko again and again swam specifically to her. I know this is controversial and scientific dolphin researchers might sneer at it but it actually seemed to me, that here was a little free spirit in his element who again and again swam to that specific woman for getting affirmation, encouragement and maybe even calming. And indeed this woman transmitted a certain ease of mind and a remarkable knowledge in how to interact with Moko. I was really impressed by this team. It was obvious that this woman had to be Kirsty. So I wanted to learn more about Kirsty and her relationship with Moko. So I asked her for a meeting about which I want to write here.
I asked Kirsty if she had earlier experiences in swimming with dolphins because her dealing with Moko seems so natural. To my surprise she answers that she only swam a couple of times with pod dolphins in the ocean, which is a completely different thing because these dolphin are not looking for contact with humans like solitaire dolphins such as Moko. She says she didn’t feel the urge to make acquaintance when Moko was around Mahia or Gisborne (the places where he hung out before he headed to Whakatane). But when he suddenly appeared here there was no way out; Kirsty had to find him.
Her motivation is less scientific but rather a general love of animals. People call her the `dog whisperer´ as she has a very calming response to dogs and really gets along well with these four-legged critters. If she sees a street dog Kirsty picks him or her up and tries to find a home or keeps the puppy herself.
On Kirsty’s very first day with Moko, she was so charmed by Moko that she has swum with him for several hours every day since. Kirsty says about herself that she doesn’t do anything half-heartedly; if she decides to do something then she does it with all her passion. And obviously this passion is mirrored in a very special relationship between her and Moko. Of course Moko swims and plays pretty much with everybody who is convenient to him and treats him respectfully. But it seems that Moko has developed a deep faith in Kirsty which allows him to swim into her arms, pause there and after intensively playing, nearly fall asleep to a lullaby Kirsty hums for him.
There are also more boisterous times, when Kirsty tries (or pretends to try, as she knows very well that despite her remarkable swimming abilities Moko always will be faster) to elope with the board; then he shows off who is the fastest one of all, snaps it from under her nose and plays `Catch me if you can´ until he gets excited with something else. Kirsty says that even in the faster play, Moko is always careful not to hurt her and is gentle.
Kirsty also tells me that he swims from a certain distance directly towards her when she hums a friendly `Hello Moko´ into the water. At any interaction she is always careful to be respectful with him, she offers him stuff like her boogie board her arms for a hug, but prudently avoids teaching him tricks.
And of course Kirsty makes sure that other people who are less thoughtful don’t do any harm to Moko. He doesn’t seem to like it when people try to hold on to his back fin (esp. as he recently got a slash wound at this fin).
Others even try to jump onto his back.
Further Kirsty told me about an occasion when a man struck two rocks against each other so that Moko would be attracted by the noise and hopefully head for this man. Well the guy certainly managed that, because Moko came straight away to him and showed him in Dolphin language that he was annoyed; first Moko made some klicking noises and as that didn’t help to stop the guy, Moko smacked the guy with his tail fin.
Having done that, Kirsty tells me, Moko swam away but came back to Kirsty after a little while and behaved like a naughty kid that knew it had done something bad and showed a kind of guilty conscious.
Certainly in most of the cases Moko is able to get rid of thoughtless or boorish people. But despite the fact that Moko controls his enormous power and prefers to smack people politely to keep them at arm´s (or fin´s) length, let’s hope that people behave appropriately, and Moko doesn’t need to worry about the harsher side of diplomacy.
Kirsty certainly is a person from whom we can learn a whole lot about being in contact with a solitary dolphin. And that is quite an achievement considering she herself so recently first jumped into the cold water with Moko. She says she learns something new with him every day . She also says that it is important to her that she is not regarded as being at the centre of this whole thing but rather that it is Moko we are talking about. He is the one who gets people starting to talk to each other who would usually pass on the street without saying a word. He gets an adult who can´t swim, armed with a life vest, into the risk of water, just to play with him. People are having their lunch on the river bank to watch the colourful goings-on. Lets hope and wish for all of us that this will go on for a long time.
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