TARGET 100623

Dolphin Defense

Dolphin pod

Stories of dolphins protecting humans have existed for centuries.

About 20 percent of Chinese merchant ships passing through the waters off Somalia were attacked by pirates from January to November in 2008, before deployed a task force to escort them through the Gulf of Aden, where the attacks occur.

A total of seven ships, either owned by China or carrying Chinese cargo and crew, were hijacked.

Tianyu No. 8, a Chinese fishing vessel with 16 Chinese and eight foreign sailors aboard, was captured by Somali pirates on Nov. 14 and released in early February.

But in mid April, 2009, something, seemingly miraculous, occured. Some Chinese merchant ships, escorted by China's fleet, sailed into the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. The pirates headed directly for the merchant ships in attack formation when suddenly, thousands of dolphins leaped out of the water between the pirates and the merchants.

Thousands of dolphins protecting the ship
Dolphins

Thousands of dolphins leap from the waters.

The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. The pirates could only lament their littleness before the vast number of dolphins. The spectacular scene continued for a while, with the dolphins staying between the pirate ships and the merchant ships, until the Chinese merchant ships were safely past the pirates, then the dolphins disappeared back into the sea, leaving the pirates standing in their stalled speedboats, wondering what had just taken place.

Standing and wondering

The pirates stand in their speedboats, as the merchant ship sails safely into the distance (right)

As you can see from the grainess of the pictures, the photographs of the encounter were taken by a member of the pirates' crew, supposedly on a cell phone. The main article for this TOTW came from Xinhuanet News Service, in China.

FEEDBACK MAP

Feedback Map

To learn more about this event, take a look at the following web site:

Xinhurnet News Service



Many thanks to Tamra Temple for this target