A dolphin, possibly fed up with its life, rebelled last weekend and attacked its trainer at the Miami Marine Aquarium in front of excited children.
Video footage of the attack recorded by one of the spectators shows the dolphin known as “Sundance” throwing its body towards its trainer. Sundance smacks his nose at his trainer three times. At one point during this struggle, Sundance also manages to pull himself briefly underwater before the trainer frees himself from swimming to the edge of the pool. The trainer, who comes out of the water, is then treated by the medical teams. The unexpected attack took place during the Sea Aquarium’s “Flipper” show. The Marine Aquarium announced that both the unidentified trainer and Sundance are in good health.
A spokesperson for the Miami Sea Aquarium told WPLG Local 10 local broadcast that the attack occurred after the instructor accidentally scratched Sundance with his hand. “This was undoubtedly painful for Sundance, who broke away from the routine and responded to training by swimming and hitting,” the spokesperson said.
Former Miami Marine Aquarium staff veterinarian Jenna Wallace said she was not convinced it was an accident and had been seeing signs of restlessness in the park’s animals for a while.
Wallace told WPLG, “When dolphins are particularly aggressive like this, there’s always an underlying cause,” adding: “I’ve heard that diets go down significantly and the amount of interaction increases.”
Worse still, Wallace claimed that this was not Sundance’s first attack on humans: “I heard from previous veterinarians and staff that this animal also hit another trainer in the stomach.”
Over the past few weeks, the Miami Marine Aquarium has found itself faced with a 17-page USDA inspection report documenting a series of allegations of animal welfare violations. The report alleged that staff fed animals with poor quality, rotting fish and repeatedly violated veterinarians’ instructions. According to the report, two dolphins have previously lost their lives in the Marine Aquarium.
Animal rights group Peta released a statement Tuesday calling for Seaquarium’s animal welfare practices. “Time is up for the Miami Marine Aquarium, where long-suffering dolphins desperately need protection and workers are at risk,” the organization said. He urges us to end the exploitation of dolphins by taking them to sanctuaries as soon as possible.”
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