On April 2nd, WAVY, an online news broadcaster, found a bottlenose dolphin trapped in Bennett’s Creek, a freshwater creek in Suffolk, Virginia. “It had swam there,” scientist Alexander Costidis said, “to avoid the bullying of other dolphins.”
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Dolphins, especially bottlenose dolphins, are common perpetrators of harassment towards other animals, may they be from the land (for example, humans) or the sea (in the case of this article, other dolphins).
Porpoises, marine mammals that appear similar to dolphins, are their usual victims and suffer injuries from them that lead to the death of one porpoise per year, according to Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT). Specific accounts of wounded porpoises come from all over the world: in Scotland, harbor porpoise calves were found with serious internal injuries and, afterwards, a video recording showed dolphins deliberately aiming their attacks at the vital organs of porpoise calves.
Other dolphins can also become the targets of dolphins. According to Mirian Goldstein, the Director for Ocean Policy at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, two or three male dolphins may mate with a single female dolphin by force, sometimes continuing their actions for weeks at a time. Should she attempt an escape, the males hit her with their tails, terrify her with noises, and make threatening movements. Dolphins also murder the calves of other dolphins: one scientist in Scotland, reported having watched an adult dolphin repeatedly throw a calf on the surface of the ocean and stop only when it had died. Evidence of dolphin infanticide also washed ashore in Virginia, where the bodies of nine baby dolphins were found with broken skulls, spines, and ribs, and one of the calves bore puncture wounds from dolphin teeth.
Dolphins employ a horrific range of tactics when badgering their victims: using their beaks as humans use clubs and their teeth as knives, they have been spotted beating other mammals to death by the hundreds. With echolocation, dolphins are able to perfect their aim when directing their beaks at the internal organs of their targets and deliver devastating, if not fatal, blows.
So, where does such an urge to bully come from? Researchers have long pondered the source of dolphin harassment, but no indisputable answer has surfaced. The go-to answer may isolate hunger as the driving force for dolphin bullies but, miraculously, evidence of a pod of well-fed dolphins says otherwise. Another theory suggests that, due to the fact that dolphins have reached an intellectual level surprisingly similar to that of humans, with the abilities of calling each other by name, communicating in different languages and dialects, caring for their old, forming social cliques with each other, solving complex problems, and showing empathy, they, like humans, have developed the capacity to harbor malignant thoughts and act on them, thus resulting in the persecution of others.
Since it was first spotted, teams of scientists monitored the trapped dolphin for two weeks, using noise and kayaks in hopes of convincing it to return to its natural habitat. Some scientists suggested capturing the dolphin in a net and forcibly dragging it back to the ocean, but the idea was dismissed over safety concerns for both the dolphin and whoever would be assigned the task. If the dolphin were in a body of saltwater, less attention would have been directed towards it, since the difference between saltwater and freshwater to dolphins is like the difference between a trip to the beach and a walk in the Sahara Desert to humans: should a dolphin linger in freshwater for too long, their skin can develop a form of dermatitis, where an animal’s skin can redden, swell, and become sore. If the animal remains there still, any existing sores may open and become ulcers or skin lesions, wounds that allow disease-causing bacteria to thrive on its skin and deteriorate its skin. Neither is better than the other, as both carry with them as much damage as does a third-degree burn; in other words, the dolphin may suffer as much as a human who has stuck their hand in fire.
Two weeks ago, the City of Suffolk Department of Fire & Rescues announced on FaceBook that the dolphin has officially left without the influence of outside parties. Unfortunately, the mammal did not leave swiftly enough and was seen carrying a few unwanted souvenirs from its brief sojourn: skin lesions.
Faced with the horrors of harassment by dolphins, researchers are actively searching for ways to ensure the safety of as many possible victims as possible. Given their constant efforts, a solution is bound to surface in the near future.
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