OPONONI LOSES PET DOLPHIN

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27914, 10 March 1956, Page 8

OPONONI LOSES PET DOLPHIN

Farmer Finds Opo Dead BODY JAMMED IN ROCKS (New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND. March 9. Opo, the gay dolphin of Opononi, is dead. His body was found about noon today. It was jammed in a three-way crevice of rocks on the foreshore at Koutu Point, on the southern side of the Hokianga Harbour, about three miles from Oponini. He had apparently been feeding when he became trapped. Mr Don Boyce, a farmer, found the dolphin’s body while he was collecting mussels. Opo’s body was badly cut down one side, apparently by the sharp rocks in his struggle to extricate himself. He had been feeding. The finding of the body ended a four-hour search. The dolphin had teen missing from Opononi since last evening, and his friends had been looking for him from early this morning to be in readiness for a visit by Mr James Fitzpatrick, an American travel film expert, who was to have included Opo in a film on New Zealand. No Film Made Mr Fitzpatrick arrived at Opononi by flying-boat about 9 a.m. today, but left without seeing the dolphin. Opo’s body was towed io Opononi about 7 p.m. today. Word of his deaLn had already spread far and wide, and, according to Mrs V. Lewis, the Opononi postmistress, a deep depression had enveloped the entire village. As the launch towing Opo’s body neared the beach, a silent crowd gathered along the foreshore. Only 48 hours previously there had been laughter and cheering as the dolphin gave his last public performance of tricks and gambols. Opo’s friends carried his body up the beach. The body will be carefully guarded until residents decide what is to be done with it. Six months ago, Opo was an obscure and lonely fish cruising in the silent reaches of the remote Hokianga Harbour. No film star ever had such a sudden and spectacular rise to fame and popularity. He soon had thousands of New Zealand admirers, and millions more have seen him on television m the United States and Canada. He has delighted every visitor with his tricks, and changed Opononi from a peaceful, old-world village into a mecca to which more than 2000 dolphin pilgrims have journeyed on a Sunday. When, some weeks ago, an Opononi school picnic was being held on the beach. Opo came gaily on the scene and joyfully joined in the fun. A dozen children held hands to form a ring in less than two feet of water, and Opo entered into the spirit of the game with great enthusiasm. He slid in between two youngsters to the centre of the ring, and when someone threw him a water ball, he tossed it high in the air.

Happily this incident was photographed by Mr Rudall Hayward with a movie camera. It is included in a film which was given its first screening in Auckland today.