Funeral for Moko the dolphin

Hundreds of mourners have marked the death of Moko the bottlenose dolphin. His body, placed in a blue coffin bedecked with flowers, was carried through the seaside town before being buried privately on Matakana Island, where his carcass was found one week ago. The cause of death has still not been determined, but post mortems have ruled out deliberate violence or a boat collision.

Moko's death - UPDATE

The charity has received further news that the pathologists attempting to confirm the identity of the dolphin have hit a snag due to previous samples taken from the animal. Tests are still being completed although they say that other physical evidence continue to be strong. Moko is to be buried on Matakana Island, near Tauranga, where found.

Pathologists investigate Moko's death

The team at Massey's Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences Massey University have been busy trying to determine the cause of death of Moko, the friendly interactive dolphin that frequented New Zealand waters whose body was found washed up on Matakana Island, near Mt Maunganui.

There had been concerns for the safety of Moko when he was not sighted for several weeks which was very unusual for he had become a familiar sight in the area. He was known for his apparently boisterous, fun loving nature - pushing surfers out to sea, leaving one woman stranded on a sea buoy when he stole her surfboard and overturning kayakers and water skiers.

Marine Connection director comments "Although a friendly interactive dolphin, Moko was still wild and his death could have been caused by any number of factors. Sadly many dolphins which interact with humans appear to meet this fate. Moko must be the only dolphin in the world who had more than five hundred friends on Facebook, and he will be genuinely very much missed.

The animal had been dead for some weeks before being discovered, making diagnosis more difficult, however results are due any day. Moko was just four years old and the team examining him are experienced in conducting autopsies on dolphins, sea lions and seals. So far they have found no obvious injuries on the dolphin but as the cause of Moko's death is determined, a debate has now begun on where the dolphin's body will be buried. Bay of Plenty and the Hawkes Bay are tussling over the right to have the dolphin buried in their regions because Moko stayed in both areas.