TAME DOLPHIN AT HOKIANGA

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27851, 27 December 1955, Page 10

TAME DOLPHIN AT HOKIANGA

Tricks Performed For Swimmers

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. December 26. Opononi. a water playground at the head of the Hokianga Harbour, had crowds of sightseers today, more than ever before. The reason was Opo, an eight-foot dolphin, which is doing its best to outdo the feats of Pelorus Jack.

Opo has been around the harbour for the last 18 months, but this summer he has started to reach for the limelight. One of fiis tricks is to seek out a floating beer bottle, throw it in the air and catch it in his mouth He is not the least afraid of human beings, and today spent a great deal of his time swimming six or eight feet off shore, in and out among the bathers. Mr K. Williams, licensee of the Opononi Hotel, acts as an unofficial guardian over Opo, and sometimes goes out in his dinghy to scratch Opo’s back with an oar. “He loves it,” says Mr Williams.

A small boy recently managed to climb on to Opo’s back. Opo did a lazy slow roll which got rid of the boy and then came back to dive playfully under swimmers.

The Hokianga Harbour Board has asked the Marine Department to have Ono declared a protected fish, as was done with Pelorus Jack.