Aggressive dolphin attacks are on the rise as 10-year-old is mauled on family holiday
THEY may have a reputation for being friendly, cute and curious creatures, but dolphins can also be extremely vicious – and attacks on humans are on the rise.
Just last month, 10-year-old Lexi Yeo was savaged by a pair of captive bottlenose dolphins, while on a swim experience in Cancun, Mexico.
Her petrified mum Laura, 40, was forced to watch as the dolphins rammed, bit and gnawed at Lexi, before they tried “dragging” the screaming girl – who was in a floating closed sea pen – under the water.
“It was terrifying,” she said. “I thought she was going to die.”
Lexi – who was left with bite marks and cuts – was only saved by clinging to the top of her bodyboard, before being towed to safety by a dolphin trainer.
The ugly side of swimming with dolphins
But this is not the first time dolphins kept in captivity have attacked humans in recent years.
In 2012, a dolphin at SeaWorld, Orlando, attacked another young girl, eight-year-old Jillian Thomas, biting into her arm and almost dragging her into the water.
Jillian was feeding and touching the dolphins for the second time that day, when she made a crucial mistake. In her excitement, she lifted a small plate of dolphin food into the air – something the park had warned people not to do. As a result, she suffered nasty puncture wounds.
David Paul Fisher’s son was also attacked by a dolphin while they were on a summer holiday in Miami. He caught the whole scary episode on video.
In the footage, the dolphin is clearly shown making aggressive runs at the family in the water.
David posted it on to YouTube as a warning to others, “so you can see the ugly side of swimming with dolphins, don’t think it’s all fun.”
However, Lucy Babey, Head of Science and Conservation for ORCA, an organisation which protects whales and dolphins, says that putting dolphins in stressful situations where they are forced to perform and interact with humans leads to their aggressive behaviour,
“More people are now able to travel and participate in these swim activities with captive dolphins so it is more likely that these attacks will occur,” she says.
“And because of social media, they are also reported more.
“Dolphins are highly sociable, intelligent creatures that are meant to be in the wild and travel long distances so if you keep them captive they can get more stressed and this will lead to more aggressive behaviours.”
‘Frequent sex with both genders asserts sexual dominance’
Dr Chiara Giulia Bertulli, Sightings Officer at the Sea Watch Foundation, has been watching and studying dolphin behaviour for the last 10 years, and believes there’s a misconception about the mammals being friendly and placid.
“People forget that dolphins are wild animals and like any land or aquatic mammal they live in a complex society where there are all kinds of behaviours and personalities,” she says.
“Some can show tranquil behaviour – travelling, searching for food and socialising – but others can show much more aggressive behaviour, even within their own species. Many dolphins have tooth rakes on their skin from bouts of fighting.”
Bertulli explains that older dolphins often attack younger dolphins in order to discipline them, and mothers can be particularly aggressive when protecting their children, if they feel under threat.
Marking out territory and asserting sexual dominance are also key factors in dolphin behaviour. They don’t mate at a specific time of year, but they appear to have frequent recreational sex with both males and females.
“Male dolphins in particular can show violence when fighting over new territories or dominance over the females,” says Bertulli.
Broken ribs and spine after being slammed by dolphin
Valerie Ryan discovered this in 2013 when she went for a swim off Doolin Pier in County Clare, Ireland, where Dusty, a friendly dolphin, often swam alongside the locals.
But as Valerie swam towards Dusty, the territorial dolphin started to “go crazy”, flapping her tail.
“I knew I had to get out of the water, so I swam towards the pier, but within microseconds Dusty had ploughed into me with her snout,” Valerie told the Guardian.
“It was very powerful and painful, and the speed was amazing. I went hurtling forwards.”
With help, Valerie was dragged out of the water and taken to hospital where she learnt she had six spinal fractures, three broken ribs and a damaged lung.
She was off work for five months with limited mobility, stiffness and pain, and has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.
Gangs chase and rape females
Male dolphins sometimes use sexual coercion too.
A long-term behavioural study in 2004 on Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, found that during the breeding season, they’d act in groups to chase and mate with a female of their own species.
Randy dolphins can display sexual behaviour towards other species too – including humans.
Last year, a seaside village in Brittany banned swimming on its beach because a dolphin in heat had been scaring tourists and locals by approaching them and trying to rub up against them.
The three-metre long dolphin – nicknamed Zafar – had even tried to prevent several swimmers from getting back to the beach at Landévennec, using its nose to push one woman out of the water and up into the air.
The aquatic beast also often tried to rub up against kayaks and other small boats.
Horrific attack on defenceless porpoise
We think of dolphins as gentle and playful mammals, but the truth is they can be downright cruel.
There are numerous dolphin attacks on harbour porpoises, one of the smallest marine mammals, with hundreds of incidences recorded in Wales and Scotland.
In May last year, Scottish photographers Jamie Muny and Alister Kemp recorded two brutal 10-minute-long attacks by two bottlenose dolphins in Moray Firth.
On both occasions, the photographers thought the dolphins were throwing a large salmon up into the air.
It was only when they reviewed their images afterwards that they realised the ‘salmon’ was in fact a motionless porpoise.
“In the hundreds if not thousands of hours I’ve spent photographing the dolphins, I have never witnessed such an attack,” said Alister.
Jamie added: “I was saddened and shocked… and, at the same time, there is a feeling in my heart that tells me that I am lucky to have witnessed this very rare event, but have no doubt it is something that I will not want see again. It was brutal.”
Killing for fun not food
Why do dolphins attack? Nobody is certain. It’s not for food; unlike sharks, they do not eat their victim.
Some experts have suggested they just do it for fun, with one research team describing injuries on a dolphin-ravaged porpoise as “perhaps the worst example of inter-specific aggression any of us had ever seen. This young female had literally had the life beaten out of her.”
Bertulli thinks it could be down to competition over a shared food resource, or, once again, their high sex drive.
“The changing testosterone levels in male dolphins could also influence the extent and seasonality of these attacks,” said Bertulli.
Whatever the reasons behind their behaviour, experts point out that dolphins are very large wild animals and could cause serious injury – even inadvertently with a flipper – if they feel threatened.
“It’s essential when interacting with dolphins that humans stay at a distance, observe and not take anything for granted,” says Bertulli.
“They’re strong where they are, in the water, and you never know what can trigger them. I wouldn’t advise touching or playing with them under any circumstances, as these are wild, dangerous mammals.”
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The Yeo family cut short their £7,000 Mexican trip with holiday company, TUI, after their Dolphin Discovery experience went horribly wrong, and they are now seriously concerned others will be hurt too.
Laura, a nursery nurse, from Barkingside, East London, said: “I’ve not even had a card, flowers or teddy bear for Lexi from TUI. They have washed their hands of us. More concerning, the dolphins are still swimming with tourists and TUI are continuing to work with the company.
“How long before this happens again — with even worse consequences?”
Perhaps it’s time to strike “swimming with dolphins’ off your bucket list.