tursiops.org - Beloved Moko Finally Laid to Rest. (multiple articles)

lauricedeephd writes "Article #1: Moko laid to rest facing sacred Mauao

Handfuls of seaweed added a deep poignancy to the emotionally charged burial on Saturday of Moko the dolphin.

Moko's final resting place on Matakana Island was chosen by Maori because of the deep spiritual significance they attached to the death of the playful dolphin that touched the lives of thousands of people.

Matakana Island residents turned out in force to swell the numbers at the private burial to nearly 100 people.

A group of Maori from Whakatane who grew close to Moko during his three months frolicking in waters near the town, dropped handfuls of seaweed on top of a coffin adorned with messages of love.

Tangiwai Haney said the seaweed was from Otarawairere, a bay between Ohope and Whakatane where Moko loved to frolic and rest.

If he was unable to find toys like a stick to play with, then Moko would use seaweed to interact with humans.

The seaweed was gathered last Friday by Brent Sheather who used to come down from Auckland every second weekend to be with Moko.

Moko was buried on the crest of a sand dune facing Mauao - one of the most powerful cultural icons in Maoridom.

There was an outpouring of grief from those who grew to love the bottlenose dolphin who spent most of his time at Mahia in northern Hawke's Bay before migrating around the East Coast to Tauranga.

Moko's coffin was lowered into the grave by Matakana Islanders John and Ronnie Gardiner, Enoka and Mark Ngatai, Richard and Timoti Murray and Haanu Koperu. The men spent 15 minutes shovelling in the sand as Whakatane's Pouroto Ngaropo, of Ngati Awa iwi, recited incantations.

It was no accident that the iwi along whose coastline Moko frolicked chose such a prominent site to bury the dolphin, across from their ancestral Mauao.

Not only was the grave a short distance from where Moko was found washed up on July 7, but Mauao held a powerful symbolism for the Takitimu canoe from which many of the tribes of the Bay of Plenty and East Coast are descended.

Mr Ngaropo said whales and dolphins played an important part in the migration stories and the Takitimu canoe which brought Maori to the Bay of Plenty 900 years ago was no exception.

The arrival of Moko in Tauranga after long spells at Mahia, Gisborne and Whakatane, was the reverse order in which the Takitimu canoe voyaged around the Bay and East Coast.

"We believe that Moko came home and it was the life force of the Takitimu canoe that brought him back home to the people of Tauranga Moana. "He was a descendent of the whales and dolphins which followed the original migration."

Mr Ngaropo, who led the negotiations to decide where Moko would be buried, said Moko's death off Tauranga was symbolic of a homecoming.

Ngai Te Rangi kaumatua Hauata Palmer, who succeeded against competing claims from other iwi to ensure that tradition was followed in the burial of Moko, said it was a great honour to bury the dolphin.

On Saturday stories about Moko abounded, including one from Errin Hallen, the master of Whakatane's dredge Evelyn J.

The dolphin somehow knew the location of his bunk and would dive down and blow bubbles under the hull at night. If that didn't wake him up, Moko would rattle the chain on the stabiliser bar. "He was a most amazing dolphin."

Margaret Clark, of Opotiki, said there was definitely a thought process going on with Moko. "You feel you had a relationship with Moko - he definitely knew individuals."

If someone teased Moko or had him on, then he would reciprocate and have them on too.

The dolphin's chief minder in Whakatane, Kirsty Carrington, said Moko had left behind a legacy of peace and trust.

Her most emotional memory of Moko was when she slept over on the Evelyn J, two-and-a-half months ago. It was so flat and so peaceful that she could hear Moko swimming in the water all night long, and she lay there listening to him, aware that the dolphin was aware of her.

At sunrise, she went out on deck and there was Moko bringing her a fresh John Dory.

Speakers referred to how Moko touched people in a lot of different ways - spiritually and physically. There was a feeling that they would never see a dolphin like him again.

Documentary film-maker Amy Taylor, of Mount Maunganui, said Moko was very caring and without doubt saved the lives of two pygmy sperm whales who had stranded on the East Coast. He revived the whales by "chatting" to them until they started to chat back, encouraging them back from the brink until they freed themselves and followed Moko out to sea. "It was a most mind-blowing thing."

She had also seen people playing dead on the river at Whakatane, knowing Moko would push them to shore with his beak to "save" their lives.

Note:
Please do click the following link to see the photo of the most moving burial ceremony:

Source: http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/local/news/

Article #2: Moko's nearly at rest

Iwi and media are gathered with Department of Conservation staff in a contingent that is heading to Matakana Island for the burial of Moko the bottle-nosed dolphin.

Moko was found dead last week on a Matakana Island beach and he is now being returned there for a burial conducted by Ngai te Rangi.

The contingent of people heading there include about 20 Ngati Awa representatives, six DOC staff, six media as well as a group of Ngai te Rangi - although most of these people are waiting for the contingent to arrive on the island at the marae on the northern side.

DOC community relations manager Pete Huggins is a part of the group and says while rain is possible during the ceremony, it is unlikely to interfere.

Note:
Please do click the following link to see the photos:

Source: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/16114a1.page

A Special Poem for Moko: A Moko tribute

He's a wild animal they said
from the ocean born and breed
a quirk of nature and creation
drew him near to habitation.

Mokotahi, Mahia then Gisborne
as time went on he grew forlorn.

Like many teenagers of this day
loud Rock music drew him away.

Please come back
you will end up dead
with AC DC in your head.

He spread his fins and travelled more
in the Bay of Plenty he came ashore
meeting Waka Ama
with shock and oar.

Then he travelled further West
like many teenagers
he knew what's best
like Mataatua he came to rest.

With his affinity to heavy metal
he seemed for a while happy to settle
first on alloy then on steel
this little dolphin was unreal.

I suspected what lay beneath
was there a problem with his teeth.

He brought so many people joy
but several said he's just our boy
even though their own at home
often sitting all alone.

Many lives he re arranged
Dr Phil's time slot was now changed
constantly tracked with times and dates
no rest for Moko, thanks Bill Gates.

Don't Mind me the Dolphin said
I know where its best to lay my head
unable to handle any more
he spread his fins to another shore.

with AC DC in his head
just like a teen again was led
to the wayward West where we did dread
after 2 short months
he now lay dead.

Little resemblance of his former self
morbid on a sandy shelf.

No immediate rest natures intention
due to mankind's intervention
adoptive parents will not resolve
how Moko's future should evolve.

Burial at sea should be his fate
so ownership claims can dissipate
Immortalised in stone is best
so for generations fond memories will not rest.

We will miss you Moko

Poem by Phil van Dusschoten
Photo by Dan McKenney

Source: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/16063a1.page

Article #3: Moko given peace in the sand

The official ceremony, mourning, burial and celebration of Moko the bottle-nosed dolphin in the Bay of Plenty is complete.

Following Ngati Awa ceremony in Whakatane on Friday, which included a street parade and service at Mataatua Reserve, Moko was brought by boat to Tauranga in a specially made blue coffin.

In Tauranga on Saturday morning the dolphin was transported to Matakana Island for a burial ceremony to be conducted on the beach by Ngai te Rangi.

About 50 people attended the ceremony which concluded at about 1pm.

Note:
Photos are included in the source article. Since SunLive will have more photos, I will keep an eye out for them and submit them when they're available.

Source: http://www.sunlive.co.nz/16119a1.page

Article #4: Moko finally laid to rest

Moko the dolphin was finally laid to rest today; he was buried at the beach where he was found in keeping with the nomadic traditions of the Maori.

Moko's final journey began with a Powhiri on the beach at Matakana Island, not far from where his remains were found 10 days ago.

Because he died there, local iwi had the final say in where he was buried.

“In our own tradition, we were nomadic, they were virtually buried where they fell; because he washed up here, he should be buried here,” says Hauata Palmer of Ngai Te Rangi.

So Moko's Whakatane minders handed him over and he was buried with a simple but emotional ceremony and blessing.

Moko was a relatively new visitor on Matakan Island – he has spent years in Mahia and Whakatane but with today's ceremony, tensions over his resting place were, it seems, also laid to rest.

“We're all here, the ceremony was beautiful, where he's lying is just fantastic so we're really pleased,” says Pouroto Ngaropo of Ngati Awa.

“The ocean, you can hear here; it’s like the ocean calling Moko to lie in peace and return home.”

It may never be known how or why Moko died – an autopsy found some liver damage, but ruled out a boat strike or drowning as a factor, and couldn't establish a cause of death.

For Kirsty Carrington – one of Moko's most public supporters – today was a fitting ending.

“The whole wairua of the place, it’s just beautiful, I'm just really at peace with the whole process and to see where he's buried today. It's the perfect place for him.”

The final step in Moko's farewell is a Kawe Mate ritual, where sand from the burial site will be taken to Whakatane and Mahia so a piece of Moko's spirit can return there as well.

Note:
Photo is included in the source article.

Source: http://www.3news.co.nz/Moko-finally

Article #5: Moko the dolphin laid to rest

Moko, New Zealand's much-loved friendly dolphin, was laid to rest today for the final time.

He was ferried from Tauranga over to Matakana Island where his body washed ashore 10 days ago, and was farewelled by local Iwi, former minders, and conservation staff.

During the ceremony sobs rang out from mourners as Moko was lowered into his final resting place.

Moko was an animal who seemed to behave like a person and today he was farewelled as if he really were.

"I think its the first time ever we've had a dolphin thats gone through a whole funeral process like this," said Pouroto Ngaropo from the Ngati Rangi Iwi.

Moko's journey started in the early hours from Tauranga to Matakana Island, where his tribute-laiden coffin was carried by mourners, many of whom had attended the public service yesterday.

Today was a more sombre occasion, for those closest to Moko.

"He was my best friend, my baby, my big fella," said former Moko minder Kirsty Carrington.

"We had a connection and a bond that people don't get everyday with wild mammals."

It seemed Moko had come into contact with so many people and each and everyone had a fond memory.

"He touched my heart in a way I cant ever explain to anyone and he changed my life in a big way," said Whakatane resident Karen Esterhuizen.

Moko had a special place in the hearts of Maori, who believe his ancestors guided their ancestors here from Tahiti, hundreds of years ago.

"Moko to most of us wasn't just a dolphin, he was a gift," said Ngaropo.

"And the way that he interacted and played with our children, the way that he touched our lives was such that he got into the inner emotion of us as the community, because of his beautiful and lovely nature."

A post-mortem failed to reveal just how the three-year-old dolphin died, though DOC ruled out any act of violence or collision with a boat.

Note:
Please do click the following link to see the photo and watch the video:

Source: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/moko

Article #6: Tributes flow at Moko memorial (detailed info)

Whakatane residents take Moko's coffin for one last cruise of the estuary

Ten pallbearers strained to lift a 3m-long, bright blue casket containing Moko the dolphin, much loved and missed, on to a boat.

Adorned with flowers, a dozen dolphin soft toys and two posters of his smiling face, the dolphin was surrounded by his most devout admirers and taken out to Whakatane's estuary for one last cruise around his favourite swimming spot.

The Bay of Plenty town held an elaborate memorial service for Moko yesterday, celebrating the summer he spent there entertaining swimmers and stealing fish from fishermen's nets.

Just months ago, he was snuggling with young children and jostling with the older ones, nicking their boogie boards and rubbing up against them.

"My grandchildren would spend three hours out there playing with him. He was a cheeky fella," said Anne Marshall, a local resident.

But last week Moko was found dead and decomposing on Matakana Island, offshore from Tauranga.

He was taken to Palmerston North for an autopsy that failed to find his cause of death, and then driven to Whakatane yesterday in a specially made wooden casket.

The town's businesses pitched in to make the day come together, some donating construction materials, another offering a boat, and one providing a professional paint job that completed the outsized and flamboyant - but otherwise human - coffin.

The ceremony began just before noon, with a flat-bed truck carrying the coffin inching along Whakatane's main street.

A growing group of people amassed alongside and by the time the procession reached the riverside, there were 100 children, parents and grandparents following on the bank.

"I came because I swam with him a few times. Moko was always down here. He was naughty - he tried to eat my foot once," said 17-year-old Gabrielle Tarau.

"I'm sad but happy at the same time. I knew he was going to die one day and now I know he's in a safe place."

Another 200 or so people waited by a stage erected in Mataatua Reserve.

Moko was welcomed by song, and tributes flowed for the animal, including one from a group of children from the local Little Orchard Preschool, who recited an original composition written in his honour.

Pouroto Ngaropo, a local hapu leader, fluently weaved Moko into Maori mythology, a smooth segue from ancestral waka to the fun-loving dolphin's emergence on the scene.

After a couple of hours, when clouds set in and chilled the previously brilliant day, the crowd began to scatter, leaving behind the media and Moko's "minders" who had watched over the dolphin in Whakatane and arrived yesterday in identical yellow T-shirts.

"There's never been a tangi or ceremony for a dolphin before. This is history being created today," said organiser Kirsty Carrington.

Finally, the bottlenose dolphin was carried from the stage into a van and driven to a boat ramp where he was lifted on to the Cascade, a 18m charter boat, and taken out one last time to Whakatane's waters.

Moko has since been driven to Tauranga and will be moved to Matakana Island today to be buried on the beach where he was found.

A children's book has been commissioned to immortalise Moko's legacy.

About 35 people from Mahia, where New Zealanders first met Moko, had planned to attend the ceremony - but miscommunication led them to think it would be held today, not yesterday.

Note:
Please do click the following link to see the photos:

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/

Article #7: KAPAI'S CORNER: Moko my bro, Tangaroa has called you home

By Tommy Kapai

Kiwi kids have an insight into the environment that we big kids seem to lose as we get older and supposedly wiser.

In November last year, when I held a week of creative writing workshops for Gizzy kids, I was introduced to this special insight by the tamariki of Tai Rawhiti and their environmental warrior called Moko.

Moko was the chosen character of a story the kids created about environmental awareness and how he had come to help us clever Earthlings clean up our act.

A character I knew very little about until he showed up forever here in Tauranga Moana a few months later.

On Saturday I joined a group of Moko's mates on Matakana Island to send him off to wherever it was he came from, and I got to listen to those who had had an encounter with a mammal who many said changed their lives forever.

After Saturday I too am a dolphin devotee like the Gizzy kids who believe they can connect with man and help us clean up our act.

I heard the story how Moko would sleep between the twin hulls of Ika Roa, the wave waka then moored in Pilot Bay.

How Moko would gnaw at its mooring chain as a rescue remedy for the infected teeth in his mouth. The broken down teeth that helped identify him when he was found by searchers looking for Ika Roa after its mooring finally gave way and it too was washed up on Matakana Island.

Moko and his mate Ika Roa together forever on Matakana Island ... Pretty cool kids' story huh?

But many say Moko was just that ... make believe by a group of dolphin hugging greenies and didn't deserve the send off he got last Saturday.

In fact one local columnist dismissed it all as hocus pocus hori hooha.

I am picking he had never had an encounter with anything more wairua than waipiro - or spiritual than what comes in a glass mixed with tonic and a twist of lemon.

Ironically with or without a twist, laughing it off and rubbishing Moko was exactly what the Gizzy kids were writing about.

So was Moko special?

And did he warrant the status of kaitiaki (guardian) bestowed upon him?

Was he indeed a rainbow warrior sent by Tangaroa, to tell us to stop rubbishing his playground?

You make up your own mind.

For my two bobs worth of whale watching and dolphins dying, I now know what I know now and that is Matakana means to watch over.

A sentry to stand guard over - and now at the entrance to the safe anchorage of Tauranga Harbour Moko will always watch over those who understand what he stood for.

Moko was more than just a dolphin as many have said.

He joins an elite trio of Te aihi (dolphins). Unlike Polorous Jack who met a cruel death and Opo who was only around for three months, Moko stayed and played for more than three years, which is unheard of anywhere on the planet let alone Aotearoa.

Some of us swam with him, some of us surfed with him and some of us danced on the waves and played with him - and some of us never knew him at all.

On the sand hills of Matakana last Saturday there was a send off fit for a king and it was a day I will never forget for reasons I still struggle to understand.

From Mahia to Matakana, Moko was a mate who opened up the gates to Tangaroa's world, and allowed thousands to walk in.

"Moko and Matakana" - te aihi the dolphin and his island guardian, it sure sounds like a legacy that should be protected first and then promoted for future generations to learn from.

Generations who care about our environment.

Just like the Gizzy kids who knew a rainbow warrior when they swam with one.

Swing low - Moko my bro, Tangaroa has called you home.

When we looked over Mahia what did we see, coming for to carry you home? We saw a choir of kuia calling out to thee. Their karanga was calling you home.

And when we looked over Gizzy what did we see, coming for to carry you home? We saw a team of tamariki telling tales of thee. Telling us to clean up our sea.

When we looked over Whakatane what did we hear, coming for to carry you home? We could hear the waiata of Wairaka singing out to thee. Singing for to carry you home.

And here on Matakana Island what did we see, coming for to carry you home.

A band of rainbow warriors who lived and loved the sea - they had come to carry their mate Moko home. Pai marire

Source: http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/have-

Note: I would like to post the most detailed article about the burial ceremony first and then the subsequent articles that were written as the ceremony was unfolding or was just over. I am also including a special poem, a detailed article about the memorial service, and a special write-up dedicated to Moko by Tommy Kapai. -Laurice"