Swimmers In Galway Bay Off The Coast Of Ireland Menaced By .... A .... Dolphin?

[Abroad]

Five people have been rescued from Galway Bay in the Republic of Ireland after what has been described as a dolphin "attack".

A member of the public contacted the Irish coastguard shortly before 19:30 BST and they asked the Galway RNLI lifeboat for help.

When the RNLI arrived at the scene, a local fishing vessel had separated the dolphin from the swimmers.

Galway RNLI said: "The lifeboat joined the fishing vessel in keeping the dolphin away from the swimmers until they made it safely ashore.

"Reports from people who witnessed the incident say the dolphin had circled the swimmers then swam at them in an intimidating way and glancing off them, coming and going, with his tail and nose.

"The swimmers were very shook up by the incident and one in particular was very shocked but did not require medical assistance."

In a statement to the media, the RNLI described the incident as an "attack".

Galway RNLI Lifeboat helmsman Ciaran Oliver said the crew stayed in the area for a while to ensure all swimmers got ashore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29460544

 

[Krystal]

Kinda odd, here in the States people pay A LOT of money to swim with the dolphins but in Ireland people call for the Coast Guard to keep the dolphins away.

 

[Satanica]

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/06/health/evidence-puts-dolphins-in-new-light-as-killers.html

But scientists, following a trail of bloody clues, are discovering that dolphins are far from the happy, peaceful creatures that humans think they know.

Growing evidence shows that the big animals, up to 12 feet long, are killing fellow mammals in droves, wielding their beaks as clubs and slashing away with rows of sharp teeth. Dolphins have been found to bludgeon porpoises to death by the hundreds. Unlike most animal killers, which eat their prey, dolphins seem to have murderous urges unrelated to the need for food.
[....]
They have even been observed in recurring acts of infanticide.

Off Scotland, a scientist watched in shock for nearly an hour as an adult dolphin repeatedly picked up a baby in its mouth and smacked it against the water, over and over, until it sank from view.

Off Virginia, researchers found at least nine baby dolphins killed, their ribs broken, their skulls and vertebrae smashed. One small body bore puncture marks matching the pattern of adult dolphin teeth.

''We have such a benign image of dolphins,'' said Dr. Dale J. Dunn, a veterinary pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, who aided the Virginia study. ''So finding evidence of violence is disturbing.''
[....]
'Dozens of bites have been reported,'' says one flier. ''And people have been pulled under water. A woman who fed a pair of dolphins and then jumped into the water to swim with them was bitten. ''I literally ripped my left leg out of its mouth,'' she said during her one-week stay in the hospital.
Dr. Amy Samuels, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, who studies interactions between dolphins and people, said injuries had been relatively minor so far. But she added, ''Just because dolphins have a smile doesn't mean they're nonaggressive.''

In the United States, dolphin commerce is loosely regulated, and many countries have no rules at all. An American ban on feeding wild dolphins is routinely ignored by tour boats, which use food to lure dolphins nearby so people wearing masks and snorkels can swim among the creatures. And Federal rules on how to handle captive dolphins, completed last year, were suspended after swim centers objected to some provisions. Revised rules are not expected until next year.

Many experts say tourist attractions will remain largely unfettered until a major accident occurs.
[....]

 

[Satanica]

Another attack in Ireland in July.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ed-push-swimmer-underwater-coast-Ireland.html

With their friendly faces and playful natures, it may seem that wild dolphins are always friendly.

But a bottlenose dolphin has been reported to have deliberately pushed a man underwater while he was swimming in the sea off County Cork, in the Republic of Ireland.

The animal is said to have ‘lashed out’ at the swimmer twice with its tail, prompting experts to warn swimmers to keep out of the water near the large predators.
[....]
The IWDG has now warned swimmers to exercise ‘extreme caution’ when attempting to interact with the powerful creatures and to respect the space of ‘this very large, apex predator’.

‘IWDG's advice is not to get into the water with it, and to enjoy the animal from the safety of the shore or from one of the local whale watch boats or licenced ferries.’

‘Bottlenose dolphins are not cute and cuddly, they are not our "friends" and nor do they benefit in any meaningful or long term way from interacting with humans.’

Clet has been observed swimming close to boats in the area, but experts claim that he is solitary and does not enjoy contact with humans.
[....]
The group told swimmers: ‘Do not confuse the shape of their jawline with a smile. They can and do cause serious injury to humans and have killed in the past.’

It is not known exactly why dolphins attack humans or large animals like porpoises as, unlike sharks, they do not eat their victim.

An expert from the IWDG told BBC News that it is impossible to known if the dolphin was deliberately attacking the man, or if it was trying to play with him.

Dolphins often engage in rough play, holding each other down and giving chase, so it is possible that the dolphin was playing, but some dolphin experts claim that the creatures sometimes attack humans when they are feeling amorous.
[....]

 

[Satanica]

http://news.yahoo.com/florida-city-become-hotbed-dolphin-harassment-163142773.html

A Florida City Has Become a Hotbed of Dolphin Harassment

Panama City, Fla., has become a “hotbed of illegal interactions with wild dolphins” because of tour operators who allow customers to feed and swim with the animals, according to federal officials.


“We are seriously concerned about both dolphin and human safety in Panama City,” Allison Garrett, a spokesperson for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said in an email. “Illegal feeding and harassment of dolphins continues despite decades of intense outreach and enforcement.”

The Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits the harassment of wild dolphins, including feeding or swimming with them in a manner that disrupts their natural behavior. That, though, hasn’t stopped continuing violations of the law along the Florida Gulf Coast, particularly off Panama City.
[....]
Federal officials have done everything from posting warning signs at marinas and holding meetings with tour operators to putting up highway billboards and airing an animated television commercial.

There is plenty of evidence of dolphin harassment near Panama City. YouTube videos show people swimming with wild dolphins, while boaters feed fish to dolphins. Some people even try to ride a dolphin.

Swimming and feeding dolphins may look like fun, but it’s also a federal offense, punishable by civil penalties up to $11,000, criminal penalties up to $100,000, and one year in jail.
[....]
they learn to associate people with food. They lose their natural wariness.”
Such dolphins take fish or bait from fishing lines and can die from ingestion of fishing gear or entanglement in nets. They are also at risk of injury from boat collisions and intentional acts of violence against them by people. Equally worrisome, dolphins pass such risky behaviors to their young.

Courtney Vail of the nonprofit group Whale and Dolphin Conservation said at least 20 habituated/begging dolphins have been documented in the Panama City area.
[....]
In the past few years, Garrett said, NMFS has heard from tour operators that dolphins are behaving more aggressively toward people who feed and swim with them, activities that persist despite a handful of successful prosecutions of tour operators and private fishermen for harassing dolphins.
[....]
“Bypass the ‘hotbed of harassment’ in Panama City,” she said. “Seek kinder and gentler beaches along southwest Florida’s coastline where dolphin-friendly and responsible tour operators place the health and welfare of wild dolphin populations, along with the safety of their patrons, first.”

 

[JackBurton]

Yeah this isn't odd at all and anyone who would think otherwise is a dipshit who buys into the bullshit media hype and moronic moneymaking seaworld love machine for these disgusting animals.

Make no mistake, dolphins are one of the most vile and sick animals on the entire planet. They will rape anything and everything that comes in their path, from humans to their own young. They're evil creatures, plain and simple. Makes me sick to my stomach seeing all the fucktards in the world who get dolphin tatoos and wear dolphin jewelry and dress their poor ignorant, poorly parented kids up in dolphin t-shirts. Fucking grade F idiots the lot of em.

And i call bullshit on that article. It's unknown why they attack since they don't end up eating their victims. I'll tell you why they attack, cuz they're sadistic sexual predators that enjoy causing other living things pain

 

[Mata Hari]

First they were having sex for pleasure, then they were gay, then they were rapists, now they kill their babies... they really are like humans.


Not meant to imply all those listed are BAD, just the rape and baby killing....

 

[ChaosKitty]

G

Yeah this isn't odd at all and anyone who would think otherwise is a dipshit who buys into the bullshit media hype and moronic moneymaking seaworld love machine for these disgusting animals.

Make no mistake, dolphins are one of the most vile and sick animals on the entire planet. They will rape anything and everything that comes in their path, from humans to their own young. They're evil creatures, plain and simple. Makes me sick to my stomach seeing all the fucktards in the world who get dolphin tatoos and wear dolphin jewelry and dress their poor ignorant, poorly parented kids up in dolphin t-shirts. Fucking grade F idiots the lot of em.

And i call bullshit on that article. It's unknown why they attack since they don't end up eating their victims. I'll tell you why they attack, cuz they're sadistic sexual predators that enjoy causing other living things pain

Geez Jack, did you have some bad dolphin experience or what??? Oo! When I first read your message I immediately flashed on the SouthPark dolphin/whale/Japanese episode. They are wild animals and really aren't killers [I guess maybe accidentally or if majorly harassed] that I have heard of. The males do go into kinda a male frenzy thing sexually I've heard but would hope they contain that to the females of the species

 

[JackBurton]

No they most def don't contain it to females. They will rape adoloescent or even baby dolphins, weaker males, and females, and they will attack other species as well. It's a sick animal, one not deserving of its immense praise.

 

[thebooblady]

@JackBurton http://www.anti-dolphin.org/fear.php

 

[KaOnA]

Sorry. But I cannot help but giggle

 

[KaOnA]

I mean yea...In all reality if it actually penetrated that would be horrific.

 

[Abroad]

A solitary dolphin loved by fishermen in France but suspected of an "attack" on swimmers in the Republic of Ireland has turned up in Scottish waters.

The male bottlenose dolphin was named Clet by locals from Cap Sizun in Brittany where it followed fishing boats between 2008 and 2010.

The incident in Ireland on 28 September saw five swimmers taken to shore by the RNLI.

Witnesses said the dolphin circled the swimmers then swam at them in an "intimidating way".

The swimmers were not injured but were left frightened by the encounter.

The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust has described some of the media coverage of the incident as "sensational".

Padraig Whooley, sightings officer for the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, said: "We think it's remarkable that Clet's movements can be tracked to the Irish south and west coasts from France via English and Welsh waters, using images from the general public.

"The addition of Scotland after a two-month interval brings his known tally of passport stamps to five countries and counting, and shows the need for international collaboration when trying to monitor these highly mobile marine mammals."

[...]

She said that the animal's activity in Galway had been "misconstrued" and its behaviour was a form of defence and not an attack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-30343404

 

[ScarlettHarlot]

Dolphins can be assholes. I don't know why this is so shocking. They're smart creatures, form social groups, are intelligent, and can be nice to humans and save them from sharks (they really fucking hate sharks, and know how to kill them when they want to) or attack us. Like most any wild animal really. Or like humans.

They're not evil, and not wonderful angels in marine mammal form. Just fascinating animals.

 

[rita]

OMG, wow! I fuckin love dolphins, I do yoga and chants dedicated to the dolphins in Japan. I never knew.

 

[JackBurton]

OMG, wow! I fuckin love dolphins, I do yoga and chants dedicated to the dolphins in Japan. I never knew.

Vomit.

I do power yoga(very violent, painful movements) while praising the harvesting efforts of the noble Japanese.