Kelly's guard of honour

TOPP WITNESS: Jools Topp told Hawke's Bay Today the sight of the pod of dolphins appearing on Napier's coast the day after the death of Kelly at Marineland was the most incredible thing she'd seen.

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The day after the death of Marineland's last dolphin, a pod of dolphins was seen near the tourist attraction behaving strangely in what is being interpreted as a mourning ritual.

A pod of about 16 dolphins was seen swimming towards Marineland on Friday, the day after Kelly died aged 38, Hawke's Bay Today reported.

Jools Topp of the Kiwi comic duo The Topp Twins was staying at Te Pania Hotel when she saw the pod swim towards the shore.

She told Hawke's Bay Today they leapt high out of the water before forming a circle opposite Marineland, then headed back out to sea.

Topp said it was "as if the dolphins had come to collect Kelly's spirit and bring it back to sea . .. it was the most incredible thing we've seen in our lives."

Kelly died on Thursday from what investigators believe was stomach cancer. A mandarin-sized tumour was found in the base of her stomach during a post-mortem examination.

It is not the first time dolphins have been seen marking the death of one of their kind at Marineland.

I-site administration assistant Sherilyn Hughes, who also saw the pod of dolphins yesterday, said a similar phenomenon followed the death of Kelly's poolmate, Shona, in 2006.

Kelly, a 95kg common dolphin was last of several of the mammals that entertained thousands of visitors at Marineland over recent decades. But people who run the facility were unable to get permission to get more of the mammals.

Kelly, 38 at the time of her death on Wednesday - about twice the normal life span of a common dolphin - had been at Marineland since 1974.

- © Fairfax NZ News