[Animals] Dolphins terrorize and bite beachgoers in Japan — for the 2nd year in a row

[BirSaNN]

Four separate incidents on a beach in Fukui prefecture on July 16 echo a string of attacks in the same region last year that may have been perpetrated by a single Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.

Dolphins attacked four people swimming in the sea off the coast of Japan on Sunday (July 16), leaving one man in his 60s with several broken ribs.

This is the second year in a row that dolphins have injured humans at beaches in Fukui prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast. Last summer, at least six people were bitten by a single animal — thought to be an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) — with the most serious case requiring 14 stitches to close a gash at the base of the victim's thumb, according to the Japanese news site The Mainichi.

Both this year and last, dolphins came right up to the edge of the water. The man whose ribs splintered had been swimming 16 feet (5 meters) from the shore at Suishohama Beach when a dolphin rammed and bit him, local police told the Asahi Shimbun news site in Japan. Another man sustained bites on his left arm the same morning, and the BBC reported that two more beachgoers were attacked later that day, although there are few details about these incidents.

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A dolphin was also filmed seemingly terrorizing people at the same beach on Monday (July 17). A video of the attack posted by BreakingOne shows people hastily exiting the water at the sight of a dolphin that is cruising in the shallows and making a beeline for a woman in a pink rubber ring. 

It then appears to nip the woman's legs, rocking the inflatable. After a few seconds, the dolphin swims away from the beach and toward two people in a dinghy towing a third person in a rubber ring.

link: https://www.livescience.com/animals/dolphins/dolphins-terrorize-and-bite-beachgoers-in-japan-for-the-2nd-year-in-a-row