Wild Animal Heroes

On Oct. 30, 2004 a group of lifeguards swimming off the coast of New Zealand were protected from a shark attack by dolphins.
Lifeguard Rob Howes and three female lifeguards were on a training swim about 100 metres off Ocean Beach near Whangarei on the North Island. While they were swimming a pod of dolphins suddenly came steaming at them and started circling them. The dolphins bunched the four swimmers together by circling about 4-8 centimetres from them, and slapping the water with their tails for about 40 minutes.
Howes drifted away from the main group when an opening occurred, it was then he saw a great white shark about two metres away. When the shark started moving toward the women the dolphins went into hyper-drive. Howes said, "I would suggest they were creating a confusion screen around the girls. It was just a mass of fins, backs and human heads."
The shark left as a rescue boat neared, but the dolphins remained close by as the group swam back to shore.

In 1996 a British tourist, Martin Richardson, was saved from a shark attack in the Gulf of Akaba by three dolphins.
According to the captain of the boat Jadran, Yitzhak Hermon, Richardson along with 3 other passengers from the boat had gone into the water to swim with a group of dolphins. When the other 2 came back, Richardson decided to stay in a bit longer.
"Suddenly we heard him scream. We thought it was a joke at first. Dolphins never attack humans. Then we saw him leap in the air and blood stained the water all around him. We understood that he was being attacked by sharks."
When one of the boat's crew sped to Richardson's aid in a rubber boat, he saw the injured man being circled by three dolphins, who leaped into the air and smacked the water with their tails and flippers, and placed themselves between Richardson and the sharks.

On Aug. 28, 2007 just before 11 a.m. at Marina State Park off Monterey, Calif., surfer Todd Endris was attacked by a great white shark, estimated to be 12 to 15 feet long. The shark had hit him three times, peeling the skin off his back and mauling his right leg to the bone. That's when a pod of bottlenose dolphins showed up, they circled him forming a protective ring around him, keeping the shark at bay which enabled him to get to shore, where quick first aid provided by a friend saved his life.
"Truly a miracle," Endris told TODAY's Natalie Morales.
Endris needed physical therapy to repair muscle damage suffered during the attack. Six weeks after the attack he was well enough to go surfing again.

In 2000, Davide Ceci, 14, a non-swimmer, fell from his father's boat and was within minutes of death when dolphin Filippo came to his rescue. While Emanuele Ceci was still unaware his son had fallen into the water, Filippo was pushing him up out of the water to safety.
Said Davide, "When I realised it was Filippo pushing me, I grabbed on to him." The dolphin got close enough to the boat for Davide's father to grab his son.
Davide's mother Signora Ceci said: "It is a hero, it seems impossible an animal could have done something like that, to feel the instinct to save a human life."
The friendly dolphin was a popular tourist attraction off Manfredonia in south-east Italy.

On May 28, 1978, four fishermen became lost in a thick fog off the coast of Dassen Island, South Africa. There were dangerous rocks in the area, and they feared hitting them. That's when a group of dolphins started nudging and pushing the boat, forcing the boat to change course. The dolphins guided the boat through the sharp rocks, saving them. The dolphins continued to push the boat until it reached safety. When the fog lifted the fishermen found they were back in the bay they had left that morning.

On August 16, 1996 in the Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, Illinois, a three-year-old boy climbed the wall around the gorilla enclosure and fell 20 feet onto concrete below, losing consciousness. Binti Jua, female Lowland Gorilla (and niece of Koko, the world famous gorilla that knows and communicates using American Sign Language), walked to the boy's side and when another larger female gorilla approached, Binti growled at her. Binti picked up the child, and cradling him with her right arm, carried him 60 feet to an access entrance where zoo personnel could retrieve him. Her 17-month-old baby, Koola, was clutched her back throughout the incident. The boy spent four days in the hospital and recovered fully.

On August 31, 1986 at Jersey Zoo, five year old Levan Merritt fell into the gorilla enclosure and lost consciousness. Jambo stood guard over the boy when he was unconscious, placing himself between the boy and other gorillas in a protective gesture. At one point he reached down and touched the boy's skin then sniffed his fingers testing for scent. When the boy regained consciousness and started to cry, Jambo and the other gorillas retreated, an ambulanceman and two keepers rescued the boy.

In a story submitted to Reader's Digest, Hugh Ryono tells of how a female elephant seal pup named Gimpy saved him from a mauling by three aggressive seal pups. He describes Gimpy as a "gentle giant at 150+ pounds".
One day he slipped and belly-flopped to the deck at the Marine Mammal Care Center at Fort MacArthur, where he volunteered. As three aggressive seal pups started moving in, Gimpy came to his rescue. She became his shield against the other pups, and forced them away.

In March 2008 at Mahia Beach, New Zealand, a dolphin named Moko guided 2 stranded Pygmy Sperm Whales to safety. The two pygmy sperm whales, a mother and her calf, were found stranded on Mahia Beach. Rescuers worked for more than an hour to get the whales back into the water, but the whales kept getting disorientated and stranded themselves four more times on a sandbar. It looked likely the whales would have to be euthanized to prevent them suffering a prolonged death.
Then Moko came to the rescue. She approached the whales and led them 200 yards along the beach and through a channel out to the open sea.
After the rescue, Moko returned to the beach and joined in games with local residents.

In September 1983 at Tokerau Beach, North-land, New Zealand, a pod of 80 pilot whales ran aground and were stranded by the ebbing tide. Local townspeople waded out, talked soothingly to the whales and kept their skins wet. When the tide came back in and refloated the whales, the New Zealanders turned them around and tried to guide them to deeper waters.
A school of dolphins then swam into the shallows around the pilot whales and guided them out to sea. Because of the dolphins 76 of the pilot whales were saved.