Expert optimistic Moko will return home

Fans play with Moko the dolphin in Gisborne. Photo / Beck Vass

Moko the dolphin could well be on the way back to his summer home of Gisborne, an international expert on solo dolphins says.

Moko was last seen Sunday at Te Kaha, around the top of the East Cape, when he parted company with a fishing trawler he had followed from Gisborne.

Wade Doak, author of four books on dolphins, said he was aware of dolphins which regularly commuted from one place to another.

He said that Dolphy, a solitary dolphin in the south of France, had a regular beat across the border and along the Spanish Coast and back. Another used to wander to and fro across the English Channel between France and the UK.

In New Zealand the solo dolphin Maui commuted between Kaikoura and Picton before she had a baby, settled in the Sounds, and no longer looked for human companions.

"Then again, some solo dolphins have stayed at the same location for many years," Mr Doak said.

"Fungie is still at Dingle in Western Ireland, over 25 years since his arrival."

Mr Doak has spent time with solitary dolphins all over the world and studied dolphins that travel in pods and interact with humans.

"But meanwhile, the whole world is grateful to the people of Gisborne who have taken Moko to their hearts and for the first time ever, in New Zealand's long history of solo dolphins, set up a protection system for him with full-time minders."

- NZPA