Dolphin in the wild begging for food — this is not natural behavior (Photo Credit: NOAA)
Feeding wild dolphins is harmful to the animals and dangerous for people — and illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (Photo credit: Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program Permit No 15543)
Dozens of Bites Have Been Reported…
And people have been pulled under the water. A woman who fed a pair of dolphins and then jumped in the water to swim with them was bitten. “I literally ripped my left leg out of its mouth,” she said during her week stay in the hospital.
Dolphin Scientists Have Proof of Injuries…
Feeding wild dolphins disrupts their social groups which threatens their ability to survive in the wild. Young dolphins do not survive if their mothers compete with them for handouts and don’t teach them to forage.
Dolphins are not Water Toys or Pets
The Flipper myth of a friendly wild dolphin has given us the wrong idea. Flipper was actually a trained, captive dolphin who did not bite the hand that fed him. However, truly wild dolphins will bite when they are angry, frustrated, or afraid. When people try to swim with wild dolphins, the dolphins are disturbed. Dolphins who have become career moochers can get pushy, aggressive and threatening when they don’t get the hand-out they expect.
Reaching out to touch a wild dolphin is never a good idea — it teases animals thinking there’s food and people can get bitten (Photo credit : NOAA)
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