They’re widely considered to be one of the most intelligent and playful animals on Earth, but dolphins can sometimes use their abilities for no good.
Earlier this week, a group of kayakers claimed they rescued swimmers after Reggie the dancing dolphin ‘nearly drowned’ two women in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
The solitary bottlenose dolphin, believed to be a young male, captured hearts after a video emerged of him excitedly playing with a family and asking for belly rubs in Lyme Bay earlier this month.
However, scientists predicted that Reggie might soon lash out at his human counterparts, claiming that he could become increasingly aggressive and launch a fatal attack due to the amount of human interaction he’s engaging with.
The Daily Mail understands that the mammal arrived on its own in Lyme Bay in February, sparking concern from marine experts as dolphins usually travel together in pods.
Thankfully, Reggie has yet to cause casualties, but the scientist’s hypotheses partially materialised when he jumped on top of a woman swimming off the beach in Lyme Regis days ago, repeatedly pushing her head under water.
Footage showed Lynda MacDonald, 50, her partner, son, and his girlfriend, in the sea while Reggie leaped vertically out of the water, scaring her ‘to death’, she said. Kayaker Rhys Paterson, 32, later revealed how he intervened.
However, Lynda and her family’s experience with Reggie is sadly not a standalone occurrence, with multiple people from around the globe falling victim to dolphin attacks.
They’re known for their playful tendencies, but dolphins have been known to attack humans. Pictured is Anakin, who lives in Wales and got his name due to his violent nature
In 2019, a then-ten-year-old British girl was left bloodied and bruised by two bottlenose dolphins during a terrifying encounter in Mexico.
Lexi Yeo was attacked by the animals when she took to the water with them as part of a holiday event in Cancun.
Her mother Laura-Jane Yeo, then 40, from Barkingside, east London, was horrified to watch the pair ‘dragging’ her underwater in the sea pen.
The animals would not stop attacking her despite pleas from the trainers, but she was rescued after managing to stay on her bodyboard.
However, she did not escape unscathed, and the young girl suffered deep bite marks, cuts and horrendous bruises.
Organisers from Dolphin Discovery put the bad behaviour down to bad sea conditions, which made the animals ‘distressed’.
The bosses added it was also down to a male dolphin that ‘shouldn’t have been in the pen’.
Ms Yeo, who is a nursery nurse, told The Sun of the trauma at the time: ‘It was terrifying. I thought she was going to die.
Footage from a kayak emerged of Reggie the dolphin apparently targeting swimmers in Lyme Bay
Dolphin Anakin throws a fellow dolphin into the air off the coast of Cardigan Bay, Wales
‘But I’ve not even had a card, flowers or teddy bear for Lexi from TUI. They have washed their hands of us.
‘More concerning [sic], the dolphins are still swimming with tourists and TUI are continuing to work with the company.’
The company said it is looking into the incident.
Nick Stewart, Global Head of Wildlife Campaigns at World Animal Protection, told the Daily Mail shortly after the attack: ‘This is a tragic example of how support for this cruel industry by travel companies like TUI Group and Expedia Group puts customers at risk.
‘Dolphins are large and powerful marine predators and sadly, when kept in these confined and unnatural conditions, it is not uncommon for harm to come to humans who interact with them.
‘Dolphins at swim-with attractions have been known to seriously hurt humans by butting them and the resulting injuries have included lacerations and broken bones. Dolphins are wild animals, not playthings and not entertainers.’
A few years later in Japan, a dolphin bit at least eight tourists who were holidaying at a beach resort.
Japanese media reported that at least one man was taken to hospital in August of that year after being bitten on Koshino Beach near Fukui.
Laura-Jane Yeo from Barkingside, east London, was horrified to watch a pair of dolphins ‘dragging’ her daughter, Lexi Yeo, underwater in the sea pen
Japanese media reported that at least one man was taken to hospital in August 2022 after being bitten on Koshino Beach near Fukui
The man was bitten on both arms and the back of his hand, and it is believed that the same dolphin is responsible for at least six previous attacks on the same beach
One man was bitten on both arms and the back of his hand. Another attack then occurred in the afternoon when a second man suffered injuries to fingers on his left hand.
Attacks have also occurred on other beaches in Fukui, with another video surfacing online in which people gathered along the shore to watch dolphins swimming on Takasu Beach as a man was chased by them and had to run away.
Meanwhile, according to Japanese officials, at least six previous attacks at Koshino Beach are believed to have been caused by the same dolphin.
In another attack, swimmers were bitten after they tried to take a photograph with the animal. A girl was set upon by the dolphin and bled after it gnawed on her left ankle.
Due to the influx in dolphin attacks at the same beach, officials have now installed ultrasonic transmitters along the beach to hopefully deter them from the area.
Footage shows the mammal swimming next to a man and seemingly bumping into him as the terrified swimmer tries to get away
Bystanders can be heard shouting in panic, with one person throwing a paddleboard towards the man to bring him to safety
Takuma Goto was rescued by nearby surfers after he encountered a lone dolphin while swimming of the coast of central Japan
There have also been warnings to swimmers about the dangers posed by dolphins, who have been told to avoid them if they spot them in the water.
Local media said that dolphins in the area are now used to human interaction and have been seen in water as shallow as knee-deep.
Just last year, another terrifying incident occurred in a different Japanese region when a ‘sexually frustrated’ dolphin allegedly attacked a swimmer, who thought it was going to kill him.
Footage showed the mammal swimming next to the man and seemingly bumping into him as the terrified swimmer tries to get away.
Bystanders can be heard shouting in a panic, with one person throwing a paddleboard towards the man to bring him to safety.
The man fleeing from the dolphin has been identified as Takuma Goto, who was swimming with a friend near the town of Tsuruga in central Japan when they encountered the single dolphin, believed to be responsible for as many as 15 attacks over the summer.
The pair had swum 20 metres away from Crystal Beach when the mammal allegedly attacked them.
‘It kept attacking me and I genuinely believed that I was going to die. I was most worried that I was going to be dragged under the water and further out to sea,’ Mr Goto told local media.
Swimmers were warned of possible dolphin attacks by signs put up by the local authority on Crystal Beach, Tsuruga, central Japan
Dolphins are not typically thought to be a threat to humans, since they don’t usually see us as prey.
But signs had been put up by the local authority warning swimmers of attacks from dolphins, The Telegraph reported.
Mr Goto, then 23, said he realised the animal was not a shark, but a dolphin when it reared its head from the water.
The dolphin continued to attack and bite the swimmer, leaving him with wounds in both his arms, as well as a gash on his left index finger, which needed five stitches.
He was luckily rescued from the aggressive animal, which experts now believe to be a bottlenose dolphin, by a nearby surfer.
But it’s possible that rather than trying to hurt Mr Goto, the dolphin’s bites were its attempt at communication, with scientists suggesting it could have been seeking ‘alternative companionship’ after being ejected from its own community.
‘Just as in humans and other social animals, hormonal fluctuations, sexual frustration or the desire to dominate might drive the dolphin to injuring the people it interacts with. Since they are such powerful animals, this can lead to serious injury in humans’, said biologist Dr Simon Allen.
Mari Kobayashi, head of the marine biology laboratory at Tokyo University of Agriculture, said that the animal was believed to have committed several attacks over the summer.
New footage emerged over the weekend showing ignorant tourists paddling next to viral dolphin Reggie, with young children in the water
The tourists have ignored warnings to stay away from the bottlenose dolphin, who could harm or even kill someone
She said that the mammal may have been showing signs of loneliness, given that the species is usually found in groups.
For Mr Goto, the frightening experience has put him off returning to the water. He said: ‘Whenever I look at the sea, I can’t help but think a dolphin might be out there.’
Medical teams from the Tsuruga Coast Guard office have been repeatedly summoned to treat people attacked by dolphins.
It advised swimmers who see a dolphin to get out of the water quickly, keep their distance and not attempt to feed it.
This year, news surfaced that a killer dolphin is on the loose in British waters after it slayed one of its own kind – and then a shark.
The bottlenose dolphin, which has been nicknamed Jack the Flipper, was caught on camera attacking a smooth-hound shark in July.
Meanwhile, three months ago it was also seen killing a baby common dolphin by repeatedly tossing it out of the water.
The killer dolphin is part of a pod that lives off New Quay, Cardigan Bay, near Aberystwyth, mid Wales.
The Marine Management Organisation shared concerns for the safety of the sea creatures and urged tourists to stay away from the animals in a recent Facebook post
It was initially named Anakin – after the young Jedi knight in the Star Wars franchise -by dolphin watcher Sarah Michelle Wyer.
‘I have not seen a dolphin throw a shark out in the eight years I have been watching them,’ she said.
‘One of the skippers I work with has seen them throw tope out of the water, which is another small member of the shark family.
‘But when Anakin killed the young common dolphin, it was the first recorded instance of this behaviour happening in Cardigan Bay.
‘It is unknown why this dolphin chose to do it – as it would have been of no threat.
‘Bottlenose dolphins are highly intelligent creatures and are capable of many unusual behaviours – many not so pleasant.
‘They are not ‘friendly Flipper’ like many assume. This particular dolphin seems to have a very unusual personality.
‘Dolphins are known to kill porpoises in a behaviour known as porpicide. But despite the name common dolphin, they aren’t common around here.
‘And we now think this could be because of the bottlenose dolphins.’
Experts have been left baffled by the killer dolphin’s behaviour.
A spokesperson for Dolphin Spotting Boat Trips, whom Sarah works with, added: ‘We were very surprised when one of our local dolphins, Anakin, brought what we originally thought was a large salmon past the boat in its mouth and then threw the fish out the water.
‘To our surprise it was not a salmon at all but a member of the shark family called a smooth hound.
‘We aren’t sure if there are many records of smooth hounds being part of a bottlenose dolphin’s diet. Smooth hounds grow up to four feet.
‘Bottlenose dolphins are opportunistic feeders and have a very wide-ranging diet of a variety of species of fish, squid and crustaceans.
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Warning to stay away from Reggie the dolphin who could attack after 'targeting women in wetsuits'
‘We aren’t 100 per cent sure whether Anakin ate the shark or whether he and his friends were simply playing with it as they do.
‘Earlier this year, Anakin was also involved in a not-so-common incident where he played the main role in the demise of the young common dolphin.
‘Anakin’s dolphinality is a very unusual one to say the least.’
The incident in Cardigan Bay came just one month before the incident in Dorset, where kayaker Rhys Paterson said he witnessed the dolphin attack on Lynda and her family.
Footage shows the swimmer saying, ‘It scared me to death! Oh my goodness!’ before being pushed under the waves on August 14.
Mr Paterson, a development director from Lyme Regis, said the filmed incident was not the only confrontation and the dolphin appeared to be ‘targeting women in wetsuits’.
‘We saved two swimmers who were [in] fairly deep, where the dolphin kept jumping on them,’ he said.
‘The dolphin was basically drowning this woman – it kind of jumped on her back four times.’
Describing how he and his brother, Gareth, came across the scene, Mr Paterson said: ‘We had been following the dolphin for a little bit, because obviously, it’s quite a local legend at the minute.
‘But when we realised it wasn’t playing it was quite a big shock. People need to understand that it’s not an amusement arcade. It’s a wild animal. It can snap all of a sudden if it wants to.’
It comes after the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) warned the public to keep away from the lone dolphin.
The organisation said human interaction can make dolphins lose their natural wariness, leading to ‘injury or death’.
Jess Churchill-Bissett, Head of Marine Conservation (Wildlife) at MMO, said: ‘Repeated human interaction inevitably disrupts their natural behaviours, increasing stress and potentially altering their temperament.
‘Once habituated to humans, dolphins can lose their natural wariness, a change that can be fatal. This is something we could already be seeing in Lyme Bay.
‘They are also known to have become aggressive in cases and have attacked and injured people.’
Liz Sandeman, co-founder of the Marine Connection charity, warned: ‘This is the worst case of a dolphin becoming rapidly habituated to close human interaction in 20 years in the UK, with risks to the safety of the dolphin and people in the water with him likely increasing over time.’