New evidence has been compiled by marine scientists that prove the normally placid dolphin is capable of brutal attacks both on innocent fellow marine mammals and, more disturbingly, on its own kind.
Film taken of gangs of dolphins repeatedly ramming baby porpoises, tossing them in the air and pursuing them to the death has solved a long-term mystery of what causes the death of so many of these harmless mammals - but has left animal experts baffled as to the motive.
Another mystery is that the animal ‘murders’ have only been reported in two parts of the world - along Scotland’s East Coast and in America off the beaches of Virginia, where even more alarmingly, the victims were scores of the dolphins’ own young.
Full story: Telegraph
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Stronger legislation to protect “friendly” bottlenose dolphins from being “loved to death” is being urged by a leading conservation organisation.
The problem with existing measures aimed at preventing harm to or disturbance of these charismatic marine mammals is that they weren’t designed to deal with problems arising from exceptional individuals going out of their way to court human attention.
So the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society is highlighting how such creatures invariably end up with fatal injuries as a first step in a campaign for a new law to discourage people from responding to their overtures.
Bottlenose dolphins, averaging around three metres long and weighing about 200kgs, have long been at the centre of myths about relations with humans. Blowing away such mystical nonsense is part of the WDCS effort to protect them from becoming victims of their popularity.
Solitary-sociable” is how WDCS labels those that, for no obvious reason, are not part of a dolphin group and hang around harbours, increasingly associating with boat users, divers and bathers.
Social misfit would also be an appropriate description for an animal apparently preferring the company of a different species. It is not trying to deliver a message to mankind, one of the wackier theories for such behaviour - but performing in what invariably becomes a tragedy.
“There is a definite need for existing legislation to be improved to protect solitary-sociable dolphins”, said Mark Simmonds, WDCS’s Director of Science. “Law to prevent harm and deliberate or reckless disturbance to dolphins doesn’t adequately cater for situations in which one chooses to interact with people.”
WDCS has already tried to tackle this by simply giving a “back off” message to the public.
Full story: Telegraph.co.uk
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