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Dolphin bites tourist, further damaging reputation

© Matt Villano

Further damaging a reputation tarnished by reports of violence, a bottlenose dolphin off the coast of Florida bit a 14-year-old French tourist who tried to pet it this week. The girl, who was swimming in the Intracoastal Waterway near Nokomis, Fla., suffered only minor cuts and bruises. She was taken to a local hospital, treated and released.

While this attack certainly wasn't fierce, local whale and dolphin experts say it may serve to accelerate a changing view of dolphins in the wild. The incident comes just months after an extensive report published in The New York Times cited similar occasions on which the seemingly friendly creatures display violence toward humans. In this case, 14-year-old Pricilla Jones was the unassuming victim. Witnesses say that Jones, a tourist from Paris, swam out to greet the dolphin and tried to pet it on the back. In response, the dolphin thrashed around in the water around her, biting her on the hand.

Sarasota County Fire Department paramedics bandaged the wound at the Point Countess Coast Guard station where her family had gone for help. Local newspapers quoted the girl as saying that she "preferred something else to take home to France as a souvenir." According to Randall Wells, director of the Mote Marine Laboratory Center for Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Research, the dolphin in question was most likely a dolphin named Beggar, or another dolphin that may have learned to mimic him. Beggar, named by Mote researchers for his habit of approaching boats in the Nokomis area and seeking handouts, is the only one with this particular personality problem of 2,500 dolphins in Southwest Florida monitored regularly by Mote. "Others will occasionally beg, but he's the one who does it most regularly and most dangerously," Wells said. Beggar's reputation is widespread. "He's quite famous," said Trevor Spradlin, a marine mammobiologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Silver Spring, Md. Spradlin and Wells said that at least one person bitten in the past by Beggar suffered a severe infection, but later recovered. Both experts insisted that the real problem is not the dolphins, but the fact that humans bother and molest the animals despite federal warnings and prohibitions. The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1973 forbids these interactions, threatening abusers with fines of up to $25,000.

"It's the natural response for a wild animal [to bite when bothered]," Spradlin said. "The law prohibits such harassment and feeding of marine mammals."

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