I
love a good human (or animal) interest story and the fact that this blog is
Scott Honda-centered doesn't mean every post has to be on or about cars…so
without further adieu I present our first post on something that I find
interesting and think that you might as well.
On my way in to work today a story on The Michael Smerconish
Morning Show caught my ear. It was the tale of a fisherman out with
his buddies one day off the coast of New Jersey. The big fish weren't
biting so they worked their way back to about 500 yards off the shore, when he
noticed something odd. A dolphin was racing straight towards his boat in
a most peculiar fashion.
"He swam out of the water at a 45-degree angle,"
Angler, Rod Houck, of Yardville, N.J. told The Star Ledger.
"He literally came up to the side of the boat — like Flipper."
Houck went on to tell Smerconsih that the dolphin seemed
like something out of Sea World and while it was "performing" for
food he noticed the dorsal fin on this Flipper wannabe had been branded with
the number "56".
Upon returning home Houck did what any of us would do, he Googled
"Dolphin 56". Imagine his surprise when page after page and
sighting after sighting appeared on his computer screen.
According to SeaWorld.com,
Dolphin 56's known history began on August 28, 1979 when he was captured along
with five other dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon in Florida
and was branded for a field study. That study ended in the Spring of
1982, but the Dolphin 56 sightings were only just beginning.
Although we are reminded it is illegal to feed wild dolphins,
people fed Dolphin 56 anyway and he learned how easy we humans are to impress
in order to get some food. He has even been known to put his snout right on the
edge of a boat, which has really surprised boaters like Houck.
Dolphin 56, now an estimated 42-years-old, has been sighted
hundreds of times, from Florida to South Carolina to most recently the bay in Avalon,
N.J. So while you're out on the water this summer, keep an eye out for
the number 56 poking out of the water. And you better believe there will
be a major motion picture out in about 3 years about the most famous dolphin
since Flipper.
AWESOME! Love this!!!