A pod of dolphins circled protectively round a group of New Zealand swimmers to fend off an attack by a great white shark, media reported on Tuesday.

Lifesavers Rob Howes, his 15-year-old daughter Niccy, Karina Cooper and Helen Slade were swimming 300 feet off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on New Zealand's North Island when the dolphins herded them -- apparently to protect them from a shark.


"They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us," Howes told the New Zealand Press Association (NZPA).


Howes tried to drift away from the group, but two of the bigger dolphins herded him back just as he spotted a nine-foot great white shark swimming toward the group.


"I just recoiled. It was only about 2 m away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face," Howes said, referring to a distance of 6 feet.


"They had corralled us up to protect us," he said.


The lifesavers spent the next 40 minutes surrounded by the dolphins before they could safely swim back to shore. The incident happened on October 30, but the lifesavers kept the story to themselves until now.


Environment group Orca Research said dolphins attacked sharks to protect themselves and their young, so their actions in protecting the lifesavers was understandable.


"They could have sensed the danger to the swimmers and taken action to protect them," Orca's Ingrid Visser told NZPA.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&ncid=753&e=3&u=/nm/20041123/sc_nm/life_newzealand_dolphins_dc

Wow. That's pretty neat!

I've heard they've done this type of thing before.. If they could talk like us and walk around.. hrrmmm


Very cool story!

Gayest story involving sharks, ever.

'You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to h2g2Fan again.'

Dang it!

:: tips hat to Betty ::

worked for me :D

So much reputation, so little time...

TWO dolphins thought to have defended a group of swimmers from a shark attack have been slaughtered by fishermen.

The carcasses were found in the waters off New Zealand where, days earlier, a school of dolphins had warded off a great white shark stalking a man, his daughter and two of her friends.
The dolphins are thought to have been caught up in nets left by fishermen fishing illegally in Whangarei Harbour, on the North Island's east coast.

When the fishermen returned to find their nets damaged they are believed to have killed the dolphins in a rage, hacking off their tails.

Wildlife officers said it was "almost certain" they were the heroic dolphins because they were found in the same area the pod had been seen daily for months.

"This is how we repay these beautiful creatures for their help," said lifeguard Rob Howes, who believes he and the three girls would have been attacked by the shark if not for the dolphins.

Link (http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11516857%255E663,00.html)

Happy ending.

Maybe they are dolphin liberals out to "Save the humans".